Out of Breath
by HypotheticallyOfCourse
Summary: Ryan Wolfe is done being pushed around by his team. He abruptly leaves Miami for his hometown of Chicago, to be a Special Unit 2 detective. Everything's perfect with his old team and a new life, right? But what happens when Miami isn't done with him?
1. Prologue: Going Home

**Author's Note: **Okay, I'm a new author, so please, bear with me on this one! Luckily, it's summer, so I'll be able to update quickly and all that. Takes place after "Wolfe in Sheep's Clothing." Also, you might want to watch Special Unit 2 to understand this. It's on YouTube. Oh, and for those Walter fans, he'll be introduced as Ryan's replacement, and Ryan never met Jesse because he died after Ryan leaves.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own CSI: Miami, Special Unit 2, or ANYTHING related to it or that seems familiar. The only thing I happen to own is my OC, who will be introduced later.

**Prologue: Going Home**

Ryan Wolfe was pacing inside the break room. Things in is life had taken a turn for the worst. First, he was kidnapped and forced to turn his back against his team, if he could even call them that, then, Calleigh and Eric had basically thrown him out. And this was not mentioning the fact that no one knew the real truth, well, besides Horatio. Ryan felt betrayed, he felt like he'd reached an all-time low. This was nothing compared to his first years at the lab, when he was nothing but an outcast, a replacement. He still was one, but at least people were decent enough to try and hide it. Now, it wouldn't even be that. He wouldn't be able to show his face around the lab without the whispers or the looks.

Then, Eric and Calleigh walked into the break room, breaking through his thought bubble. Calleigh was glaring at him and Eric walked right up to him, gripping his shoulder, forcing him to stop his pacing.

"Look, Wolfe, I don't know what your problem is, but we want an explanation. Why'd you do it, huh? Try and claim the glory of solving this case for yourself? Do you want to have praise that much, that you're willing to steal evidence from a case?" Eric asked, eyes narrowed.

Ryan just sighed as he looked at Eric. He really didn't feel like explaining this to anyone, let alone the people who had thrown him out. "I didn't do it for glory, Delko. I don't want glory. If I didn't do it, things would have gone horribly wrong. So, just let up, man." Ryan said, trying to get passed Eric and out the door, but Delko wasn't having it.

"You don't tell us why you did this, and we'll tell H," he threatened.

This just made Ryan snap. "H already knows everything, okay? Just go and ask him! Hell, I'm surprised he didn't tell you already cause you would all _love_ to hear why I want missing for a day and I would love to hear why no one came for me!"

This made Eric freeze, giving Ryan enough time to break free and fast-walk out of the break room. He made his way to the elevator and pressed the button to the lobby. He made sure the doors closed real quickly so he wouldn't have to face the CSI's glares. Soon, the elevator opened and he walked out of the building, and the sight that greeted him was shocking.

Ryan Wolfe was not expecting to see his former Special Unit 2 colleagues, Kate Benson and Nick O'Malley, at the Miami-Dade Crime Lab. In fact, he'd thought that he would never see them again. Guess he was wrong.

"Kate, Nick, what are you guys doing here?" he asked, walking up to them. They turned around at his approach and smiled at him.

"Well, we were here finishing up a cold case, but that's over and done with, so now, we're here to see you, Jonathan," replied Kate with a smile.

"Yeah, Junior G Man. Actually, we weren't expecting to see you here. You working at the crime lab now?" Nick asked, his signature smirk playing at his lips.

"Well, not for long. And, I kind of go by Ryan now, but, you know what? Stick to Jonathan. I've always liked it better anyway," Ryan replied, easily shaking off the question about his work. But it didn't go unnoticed by Kate.

"What do you mean not for long? Are you quitting?" she asked, concerned for her former colleague.

"Um, yeah, I am," Ryan said, rubbing the back of his neck subconsciously. He kind of hoped they'd ask why. He needed to get everything out. And, as if he could read his mind, Nick asked.

"Why, Jonathan. It's not working out for you?" he said, suddenly a little worried.

Ryan went on to explain everything that had happened. The gambling, the kidnapping, the Russians, the little boy, the evidence, and the way his team had treated him, even though they didn't know what had happened to him. By the time he was done, Nick and Kate had horrified expressions on them.

"Are you okay?" Kate asked, genuinely sounding concerned, which was something Ryan hadn't been exposed to in a very long time.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. But I'm ready to leave this job. I've been thinking about it for a while but was still cautious, you know? I have been here for a long time. It will be a little hard to leave," Ryan said truthfully.

"Well, we do have a detective position open back at SU2. You could always call Captain Paige and apply. I'm sure you're qualified enough to do it. Here's his card," Nick said, handing over a card with his boss's name and number on it.

Ryan took the card and smiled at it. Maybe this whole thing was for the better. "Yeah, I think I'll give him a call. Thanks, guys. I really needed this," Ryan said, a small smile playing over his lips.

"Anytime, Jonathan. Let us know how everything goes, alright?" Kate asked, her eyes bright.

"Yes, of course. I'll talk to you later, okay?" Ryan said, putting the card in his pocket and waving goodbye to his former, maybe soon-to-be present, colleagues. He quickly walked back into the building and walked straight towards Horatio's office. When he saw the red head in there, he wasted no time in knocking. He just went right in.

"Hey, H," he began, clipping off his gun and badge and setting on his _former_ boss's desk, "I'd like to formally state my resignation, effective immediately."

Horatio looked up at him, surprise evident in his usually guarded blue eyes. "May I ask why you are doing this, Mr. Wolfe?" he asked, looking up at him from his paperwork.

Ryan sighed and ran a hand through his brown hair. He hated when people called him by his last name. What was wrong with his first name? "I just feel that this isn't working out. I can't put up with the fakeness that I get when I'm here. I need to move on from this part of my life. But thank you for this opportunity," Ryan said extending his hand out.

"Alright, Mr. Wolfe. It's been a pleasure having you on my team," Horatio said, taking his hand and shaking it.

At that, Ryan smiled and let out a humorless chuckle. He met H's questioning eyes and said, "I was never really part of this team, Lieutenant Caine."

And with that, he left to the locker room. Luckily, he'd already planned on quitting, so he had an empty box waiting at the bottom of his locker. He quickly packed up his things, which weren't a lot, and he closed the locker, only to find Natalia coming in the room.

"What's with the box? You're leaving?" Natalia asked with a million questions in her eyes. She walked right up to him and leaned against the lockers.

Ryan just nodded and walked quickly to the door, where he stopped and turned his head towards a very shocked Natalia. "I'll miss you," he simply said and he walked out of the locker room, then the building, ignoring all the stares of the CSI's.

When he got home, he hastily put the box down and called Captain Page.

"Captain Page," a very impatient voice answered.

"Yes, um, this is Jonathan Wolfe, you know, the old tech guy," he said, a little nervous.

"Oh, Jonathan. I was expecting your call. Benson and O'Malley told me you want the detective position, right?" he said, getting straight to the point.

_No small talk with this guy. Ever. _Thought Ryan. "Yeah, I want the position."

"I'm reading your file, and I'm impressed. You've grown a little since we last saw you. And from the looks of it, you have a temper like O'Malley, maybe worse. Well, I don't see why not, so you have the job. You can start whenever you get into Chicago," he said, getting right to the point like always.

"Yes, sir. Bye," Ryan said, excitedly. He went to his computer and searched apartments and flight times. When that was in order, he packed up everything he owned and went to bed that night smiling for the first time in a long time.

The next day, Ryan Wolfe became Jonathan Wolfe once again as he flew to Chicago and never looked back.

**Author's Note:** So you like? Review please? Let me know you're reading. It'd be appreciated. And, if you do review and read this, tell me if you want this to be a CaRWash fic or a RaiN fic, or not at all. Give me inspiration! So, yeah. Not sure if I'm going to keep this as a one-shot or chapter story, but I'm leaning more towards chapter.. Hmm. Let me know what you think.


	2. Unexpected Comebacks

**Author's Note: **Special shout-out to CCNinjaPants, castover, Serenityhimessheppard, and Gooniegirl3333 for reviewing! It's much appreciated. And thanks to those people who put this in their favorites and story alerts! So, here's another one for you!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything in CSI: Miami or Special Unit 2. I only own my OC and the plot.

**Unexpected Comebacks**

**Two years later…**

Jonathan Ryan Wolfe sipped his coffee as he looked around through his binoculars looking for any suspicious activity through the fog of the dark night. He was also trying not to pay attention to his partner, the black-haired, ice blue-eyed Dylan Silas, who was cracking her pale knuckles in the passenger seat. Ryan put down his binoculars and looked over at her, waiting for her to notice his staring.

She did. "Alright, alright. I know, Jon. Seen but not heard. You've only told me this a thousand times," Dylan said in a monotone, repeating what had been said to her for the past six months. She was a rookie, twenty-two years old, and fresh out of college. Ryan had only agreed to take her on because she reminded him of himself, when he first joined SU2.

Ryan just smirked. "Yeah, I know I keep saying it to you. So start listening." He kept his eyes on the street corner where Carl had told him there would be a werewolf to come and kill someone. He just hoped it would be soon because he wasn't sure how long he could take Dylan's constant chatter. He liked the kid, but sometimes, she grated his nerves.

And he got his wish. The werewolf came out of nowhere and grabbed a young lady and pulled her to the ally. Ryan shot out of the car and ran after them, grabbing the SU2 blaster in the secret pocket of his jacket. He heard Dylan's footsteps behind him and he pushed his legs faster.

Running into the ally, Ryan caught the werewolf about to claw at the girl's stomach. He acted.

"Special Unit 2. Freeze!" he yelled, aiming his blaster at the werewolf. The huge man-dog lifted his head at the sound, but he soon went back to what he was doing. Ryan's instincts kicked in and he shot. Down the werewolf went, dropping the girl, who quickly ran behind Ryan.

The werewolf was dead and the girl was safe. His job was done. He turned to the girl and gave her to the damage control agent who was on sight. Ryan tucked his blaster back into the inside of his jacket and motioned for Dylan to follow him back to the car. He just needed to get back to SU2, debrief Captain Page, and then he could go home. He started the car and took off to headquarters.

SU2 SU2 SU2 SU2 SU2 SU2

Ryan and Dylan made their way through the crowd and stood beside Nick and Kate, the only other two detectives who got anything done around here. Captain Page stood in the middle with the new tech, James.

"Alright Jonathan, what's the news on the werewolf case?" Captain Page asked, and, like everyone, he just wanted to go home.

"For once, Carl's intel was good," Ryan said, earning a snort from said gnome, who sent him a glare which he promptly ignored. "We caught the link and, well, he was about to tear apart this girl so, I shot it." He was kind of smug as he said the last part.

Captain Page opened his mouth to speak, but Carl interrupted him before he could get anything out. "Are you sure it was because of the girl, or was it revenge on the pack for the scar they gave you last time you tried to kill one of their own?" Carl said, sarcastically.

Ryan just smirked, said scar crinkling on his cheek. It ran from his right temple to just about near the corner of his mouth, marring what was otherwise a perfect face. "Okay, if I'm being honest," he started, giving a little shrug, "it was a little bit of both."

"Enough you too," Captain Page said. He was going to give the news he knew for sure that Ryan wasn't going to like. "Anyway, there's some news we have from a source from Miami." Ryan tensed at the word; he hated anything to do with his past. "Looks like theirs a link over there running amuck, which is odd because most links stay near Chicago. We're going to send two detectives over there to work with the crime lab."

Ryan flinched. He started muttering under his breath, "Please don't say me, please don't say me…"

But his wishes were seen, laughed at, and thrown back in his face.

"Jonathan, I'd like you and Dylan to go down there and deal with this link problem before it gets any worse," Captain Page said, knowing what he was going to hear next.

"But why me, Captain? I mean, Nick and Kate are far more experienced to work a renegade link," Ryan said, praying his captain would agree with him. But, sadly, he didn't.

"There's no arguing your way out of this one, Jonathan. You know the area well and you're the best candidate for it. You're going, and that's final," Captain Page said in his 'no-nonsense' tone.

Ryan just sighed. "Alright, when do we leave?"

"Tomorrow. Pack up your things and I'll give you the travel info."

Ryan and Dylan worked everything out with Captain Page and then were sent home to pack. Ryan dropped Dylan off, with a promise to pick her up at four in the morning, much to her discontent, and drove back home to pack. When he had everything he needed, he sat down on his couch in his apartment.

"This is bullshit," Ryan said, his voice slightly muffled by his hands, which were covering his face.

MIAMICRIMELAB MIAMICRIMELAB

Eric Delko and Calleigh Duquesne drove the Hummer through the Miami-Dade Crime Lab parking lot the next morning. Their joined hands rested on the glove compartment, seeing as their relationship had only grown in the past year. Eric spotted an empty space and turned to park into it. But before he could, a sleek, black Camaro that was blaring rock music slid into the spot before he could. Eric slammed on his brakes and stared with a mixture of anger towards the driver and longing towards the car. But the driver was anyone but who Calleigh and Eric suspected.

Ryan Wolfe hopped out of the car, a young girl coming out of the passenger seat. He had changed drastically in the past two years. He had on pure black jeans and a white, untucked dress shirt with the sleeves. Calleigh couldn't help but think, _Untucked? With his OCD? I don't think so._ His red, skinny tie was loosely done, the knot not even coming up to his neck but to his heart. Ryan was walking over to the girl proudly with his all white converse. His brown hair was long and shaggy, practically coming down to his shoulders. But all these features were not what surprised them the most.

What did shock them straight to their toes was the scar that ran across Ryan's right cheek, and the smile that mad it crinkle. It was a smile none of his ex-coworkers had ever seen on him. It was free, full of life, and unmasked by any pain, sadness or anger. It was a sight for sore eyes.

As Ryan walked to the girl, they saw him say something to her that had her bursting out with laughter. They turned and walked to the building, the girl putting her arm around Ryan as if for support. Eric and Calleigh just stared at the two until a honk made his car move again. As soon as they were parked and out of the car, they walked quickly to the lab, only one thing on their mind.

_What the hell is Ryan "the traitor" Wolfe doing back at the crime lab? _They thought simultaneously.

**Author's Note: **So… Yeah, wrote this while I'm supposed to be celebrating my mom's birthday. Sorry, mom. Also, as you can see, this won't be a CaRWash fic. Sorry to those fans… And this one was kind of short by my standards, but the next one will be longer. Anyways… REVIEW! You know you want to… Oh and, to save any confusion, Ryan will only be called Jonathan, Jon, or J.R. when the SU2 people are talking to him, and I'm sure you get the J.R. nickname, right? So, review, please?


	3. Not Yours, But Ours

**Author's Note: **Thanks for the reviews! Don't be a silent reader. It's all appreciated and reviews make me write faster. Anyway, I have big plans for this story. Big plans!

**Disclaimer: **Last time I checked I didn't own any famous people. Let me check… Nope, don't own anything but the plot and my OC.

**Not Yours, But Ours**

Ryan walked towards the front desk with Dylan trailing next to him, keeping her arm around his shoulders so he wouldn't lose his easy confidence, the confidence that said he was part of the world, yet he was flipping it off.

Shock was in everyone's eyes as they watched the disgrace of the lab strut proudly through the elevator doors with a barely-looking legal girl stuck to his side. Everyone but Horatio didn't know the truth about what had happened to this unfortunate CSI. To H, since Ryan was gone, there was no reason to tell people what happened, because he was almost positive he would never see the man again.

Ryan and Dylan stepped inside Horatio's office and they quickly sat down, never saying a word, not even acknowledging the redhead's presence. Ryan looked at his former boss while Dylan kept her eyes glued to her shoes, her hands clutching her backpack straps. Finally Horatio broke the very awkward silence.

"What brings you back to Miami, Mr. Wolfe?" Horatio asked in his calm and collected tone.

This statement caused Dylan to snort and roll her eyes at the man in front of her. Anyone who knew Ryan knew that he _hated _people calling him by his last name. He'd always hated it, but she wasn't going to comment. _Seen but not heard._ Ryan's words rang in her ears. This was her job. _Let Ryan talk, you'll get involved later._ She thought.

Ryan looked at his young partner, amused, but then he quickly turned to Horatio. And he thoroughly avoided the question. "Lieutenant Caine, I'd appreciate it if you could call your team here. We have a few things to discuss with all of them," Ryan said, smirking slightly. He hadn't even given a hint that this was his old boss, his old team. That was his plan, of course.

Horatio didn't speak. He just called Eric and told him to round up everyone and get them to his office. He never took his eyes off Ryan while he made the call; he stared at him.

Eric's voice was easily heard over the phone. "Why do you want us, H?" Eric asked, thoroughly confused.

"Just come, Eric. And prepare for a surprise." Horatio hung up swiftly, putting his phone back in his pocket. At some point during the call, Ryan had asked Dylan to go make coffee, which she happily did, aching to get out of the tensioned filled room.

Soon, the CSI's filed into the room, with the addition of a tall, African-American. Ryan barely spared him a glance, though, knowing that he was his replacement. It made sense that they would get a new CSI after he left, right? Then why did it hurt him? He didn't know.

Ryan's former co-workers looked at him like he was a science experiment. He let them. Slowly, almost like he was shoving it in their tired faces, he sipped his coffee. Immediately, he made a face. _This coffee tastes like shit._ Ryan thought bitterly. He shot Dylan a look, who mouthed, _Sorry. Only kind left. _Ryan just shrugged and looked back at them, the people who thought he was a traitor.

Horatio sighed, cutting through the silence, again. "I ask again, Mr. Wolfe," cue eye roll and snort from Dylan, "What are you doing back in Miami?" The way he said it was almost rude, and it was noted by everyone in the room.

"Well," Ryan started, "technically, I'm here to solve a case that you've run across in your futile efforts to keep Miami safe. So, I'd like the evidence for these cases." He handed Horatio three files, all involving young, beautiful women. Horatio looked over them and then noticed the jurisdiction form, giving SU2 full custody of the case.

"Alright, we'll give you a lab to set up and then I'll deliver the evidence," Horatio stated giving back the files. Ryan was pleasantly surprised that Horatio hadn't fought for the case, but, then, someone did.

"H, what are you doing? How could you just give this traitor the case we've worked so hard on?" Eric then turned to Ryan, who just kept stirring his coffee with a small red straw. "You can't come and take this case from us!" Eric was practically screaming at Ryan, but he looked unfazed.

"We can, and we are. This case is not yours, but ours. If you can't deal with it, stay out of our way," Ryan said, stirring his coffee before taking a sip, not even bothering to look up from it.

Eric was fuming, and the rest of the team looked at Ryan, open-mouthed. Ryan had never dared speak out like that to Eric before, in fear of pissing him off, but apparently, he didn't have that fear anymore.

Ryan stood up swiftly and then noticed Dylan, who still hadn't said a word. That made him pleased; she was learning. "Oh, and this is Dylan Silas, my partner." The he smiled over at the team. "She won't hesitate to cuss you out," Ryan said, smile turning into a smirk as he remembered her latest interrogation, when the suspect had called her a bitch. That suspect ended up pissing his pants he was yelled and cussed at so bad. It had made Ryan proud.

He left the room, with a motion telling Dylan to follow. But when the girl reached the door, she turned her piercing ice blue eyes on the team.

"You know," she started off slowly, not really sure why she was speaking, "Jon- I mean, _Ryan_, is a really great guy. You should've given him a better chance to prove himself." She was staring at all of them, trying to look confident, like her partner.

Natalia Boa Vista looked offended at this. "We did give him a chance," she said, innocently, a little too innocently if you asked Dylan.

The young SU2 detective just sighed. "Did you? Did you really give him a chance?" When she saw there were going to be more protests, she said, "Then tell me, why do you call him by his last name? His first wasn't good enough for you?" She then left the office, leaving them all stunned and silent.

MIAMICRIMELAB MIAMICRIMELAB

Ryan and Dylan were putting up black sheets of paper to hide what they'd be doing in this lab. They didn't want the CSIs to find out about links. Then, it'd be all bad.

Calleigh walked to the door and gave a silent knock. The two detectives looked up and she cleared her throat. "Um, Ryan, can we maybe talk for a minute?" she asked nervously. Ryan nodded and followed Calleigh out to a secluded area where they could talk privately.

"What do you need, Miss Duquesne?" Ryan asked sweetly, as if this was the first time he had met her.

Calleigh sighed and said, "You really can't just call me Cal like old times?" When this earned no response except a steely eyed glare, she continued. "Look, I don't want to do this. I know we had something in the past, but let's not have that ruin the future."

Ryan looked shocked, which was a major improvement from his earlier non-emotion. "You regret what we had? Because I don't… Do you?" Ryan asked, slightly hurt, but not letting it show.

Calleigh didn't regret it, in fact, she'd loved every moment she'd spent with Ryan, but she was with Eric now, so she wasn't going to let him screw things up for her again. "Yes, Ryan, I regret what we had. It was a stupid mistake and I wished it never had happened. You screwed things up for me. I could've been with Eric long before he was shot, but no. I had to waste my time on you! Hell, I never really loved you, anyway" she said, trying and succeeding to look angry, though this hurt her to do as much as it hurt him.

For a second, she saw genuine pain in Ryan's eyes, but it quickly disappeared into a cold, angry glare. "You weren't saying that when your pants were around your ankles," Ryan snarkily remarked through his teeth.

Calleigh gasped and she reached out and slapped him across the face. He barely moved, though his lip started bleeding slightly. His only reaction was to lick the blood with his tongue. He quickly turned away and walked back into the SU2 lab.

Calleigh just stood there and couldn't help but feel so guilty.

**Author's Note:** Weren't expecting that were you! Ha ha, I'm so evil! Maybe I will make this a CaRWash, but who knows? So, anyway, review and read and stuff. And thanks to those who already did. More reviews = faster update. Mwahaha!


	4. Unpredictable Discoveries

**Author's Note: **Sorry this one's a little late. I've been busy. Also, the "link," as they say in Special Unit 2, in this story is an Ogre. Watch the episode "The Beast" on YouTube if you have any questions!

**Disclaimer: **Je ne possède rien liée à CSI: Miami ou Spécial Unit 2. Et la raison pour cela est en Français c'est parce que je suis un âne futé. Haha, use Google Translate. (=

**(Un)predictable****Discoveries**

Dylan had just finished putting up the last tarp when Ryan stormed into the room, looking fairly furious. _What has Blondie done to him?_ She thought angrily.

"J.R., what's up? Blondie fuck with ya, _Wolfe_?" asked Dylan, who was clearly proud of her imitation of a certain Cuban who royally pissed her off.

Ryan, however, was not amused. He shot her a glare, shutting her up immediately. No one, absolutely no one, wants to deal with him when he's angry. He turns into the freaking hulk.

The brunette just sighed and ran a hand through his long hair. He shook his head, letting his immature partner know that he didn't want to talk about it.

"Alright, Johnny boy, but you do know that sooner or later, I will find out what's going on, right?" Dylan asked, keeping her eyes on him as he leaned against the counter. Ryan just quirked an eyebrow at her and slightly nodded, knowing how _curious _his partner could be.

"Come, on, Dill, we got a crime scene to go to and kick a couple of CSIs out of," he said, his smirk returning as he used his longtime nickname for her.

Dylan automatically became super excited and she practically ran out of the blacked-out room. Ryan smiled and followed, going straight to the car he had fallen in love with at the rental dealership. And, he did kind of want to make others jealous. The look on Eric's face when he'd drove up had said, _"Mission accomplished."_

They started driving to the address of the latest crime scene, which had been put into off-limits mode for everyone but the SU2 detectives until they went through it. Dylan was bouncing in her seat and kept changing the radio stations. When she reached for it a fourth time, Ryan slapped her hand away. She then crossed her arms and slouched in her seat muttering, "No fair."

When they arrived at the scene, which was an alleyway, it was anything but pretty. The body was decimated. There was no flesh what so ever and organs were strewn all over the place. Dylan paled and started gagging. Even Ryan cringed, and he'd seen it all.

"You know, Dill," Ryan started, eyes and scar crinkling as he winced at the scene, "you can, uh, go and take a breather for a moment if you need it."

Dylan didn't waste any time in a thank you. She ran from the gruesome place to the nearest, and out of sight, trash can and puked her guts up. Ryan grimaced as he heard the heaving from the young woman. This place was enough to make the person with the strongest stomach yak.

Ryan started walking around the crime scene, looking for anything that could lead them to the link that did this. From past experience, he already knew that it was an Ogre. He'd tell Dylan when she came back from her "breather."

Soon, she came to stand beside her partner. Walking next to him slowly, she asked, "Well, what're we dealing with, Jon. Ya know?"

Ryan nodded, but he didn't elaborate. Dylan waited patiently for him to speak. And when he did, it came out barely above a whisper. "An Ogre," he breathed out.

"How do you know?" Dylan asked, curious.

"Well, all the victims are strippers, ladies of the night, and, no flesh. Plus, I've dealt with this before. It's just like last time," Ryan said, a frown covering his semi-flawless face.

Dylan bit her lip in concentration. She'd heard about Ogres before, especially from Kate, though she'd never dealt with them herself. Well, this was her chance.

"Any evidence we need to collect and keep from the oblivious," she asked, using a nickname she came up with for people who didn't know about links.

Ryan looked around and spotted video cameras from the store to their left. He nudged Dylan's shoulder with the back of his hand and pointed them out for her. "Get the tapes from those cameras, alright?"

She nodded and bounced off into the store. Ryan kept looking at the ground, looking and watching. He saw a lot of things that would've caused him to pull a Dylan and yak had he not seen them before. He quickly turned back to the body, but something glinted in the corner of his eye.

Ryan knelt down and saw a silver necklace in the middle of a pile of, well, bodily fluids that _looked_ like blood. He took out a glove and grabbed it, putting it up to the light. It was very simple, a guy's necklace. The chain was long and thick. The pendant that hung from the end of it was round, with a few words imprinted into the back, while a certain picture was carved in the front. An Ogre that looked like the Jack the Ripper Ryan had helped track years ago. _Coincidence? I think not. _The statements ran through his mind.

Then, he read the words that were scratched into the back. номер три. It was Ukrainian. Ryan would know, being a fourth himself.

"Nomer try," Ryan said to himself, his accent coming out. He knew what that meant. _Number three. _Did this mean that there were more? Or… Wait, this was the third victim, right? What if they were leaving necklaces to tell how many girls they'd killed? He didn't know. But he would find out.

MIAMICRIMELAB MIAMICRIMELAB

After the SU2 agents had went through the crime scene about three times, they called Horatio, letting him know that the scene was open for the CSIs, or the oblivious, as Dylan called them under her breath.

Soon enough, a Miami-Dade Crime Lab Hummer pulled up to the alleyway. Ryan had always thought the Hummers were a little overrated. But he wasn't the one driving them anymore, so who cares!

Natalia and Eric walked to the detectives with their kits in their hands. Eric was scowling at Ryan while Dylan and Natalia just looked back and forth between them. Natalia was nervous that something might happen. Dylan, on the other hand, was praying Ryan would wipe that scowl off of the Cuban's face with his courageous left hook.

"So, you two get to process the scene now. We might talk to you later," Ryan said innocently, with an expression that didn't match his words. It was like he was talking to anyone and it pissed Eric off.

"We _get _to process the scene! Like we need your permission to do it," Eric sneered. Dylan couldn't help but think that he looked extremely unattractive when he did that. Ryan's smile grew, almost as if he could read her thoughts, and he probably could. He always did know her next moves.

"Yes," Ryan simply said.

Eric snorted and made his way to the scene. Natalia just opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but she didn't. She ran after Eric and was soon beside him. They quickly took out a camera and other processing tools.

Dylan stared at them until noticing that her partner wasn't next her anymore. She turned and saw him heading to the beautiful car. She fast walked towards him and sat in the car, contemplating her next question. She stared at him with an unusual sense of concentration, of which she had little.

Ryan sensed this and sighed. "Stop staring at me with that face. I've never seen you this intense. It's freaking me the fuck out. Spit it out, dammit!"

Dylan just looked at him and bluntly said, "_How the fuck _did you deal with that… That bastard. I mean, the guy looks like pure testosterone. He probably has a stick up his ass he was scowling so badly."

Ryan just laughed and said, "I don't know, Dylan. I honestly don't know."

**Author's Note: **Well? Did you like it? I hope you did. I've got ideas just waiting to be put on fictional paper! Do you like my OC? I spent a lot of time thinking about how I should make her. Quiet and keeps to herself? No. Obnoxious, sarcastic, and somewhat crude? Yes! Review! Like I said before, more reviews = faster update! Also, did you like how I said Ryan's face was _semi_-flawless? Got to remember the scar!


	5. Holding On While Letting Go

**Author's Note: **I got the most interesting review from Skull2. She said that it could be a Ryan/Dylan story. That's very intriguing. I'll think about it…

**Disclaimer: **I don't own CSI: Miami or Special Unit 2 or anything related to it, okay? So you no sue.

**Holding On While Letting Go**

Walking to the lab with the blacked-out windows wasn't like the first time Ryan had walked through the place. No stares and whispers; everyone just kept their head down and didn't look at him. Horatio had probably explained to everyone why he was there, or they didn't want to see the scar on his face. But what most didn't know was that Ryan was proud of it; he wore it like a favorite t-shirt.

Dylan was off to his side, skipping at his leisurely walking pace, a small smile gracing her lips. She couldn't wait to get started on the evidence. She'd finally be able to put her genetics degree to good use.

They walked into the secluded lab room and put the evidence they'd collected (a.k.a. stolen) on the glass table. Ryan was just about to put on some gloves when a thought struck him. _Lab coats. _They needed lab coats.

Dylan saw his concentrated face and spoke up, "Something wrong, Jon?"

Ryan looked up and simply said, "I'll be back."

Dylan just nodded and watched her partner walk swiftly from the room. Ryan walked down to the storage room, where things from old CSIs were kept. He opened the door and was greeted by the musky scent of dust. He scanned the room until he saw the lab coats hanging form a rod nailed into the ceiling. Ryan sifted through them until a familiar _R. Wolfe_ caught his eye. There were two of them. Perfect. Dylan was about his size, a little smaller but close enough. Seeing them sent an unfamiliar pang through his heart. He didn't know what the emotion was, but he didn't want to.

He snatched them from the rod and made his way back to the lab. When he got in, Dylan was singing softly to herself. He caught the chorus of New Perspective by Panic! At the Disco before he threw the lab coat at her head. It landed on her with amazing accuracy and startled her so much she gave a small yelp.

She saw Ryan smirking as he put his own on, and she stuck her tongue out at him. His smirk only got bigger.

"Why do we need these?" she asked, getting back to work.

"'Cause you need lab coats in a lab, Dylan," Ryan said, as if it should be obvious, which it kind of was. But he didn't want to break Dylan's spirit.

"Oh," she simply replied, looking foolish.

Ryan just smiled at her cluelessness and started processing the necklace he'd found at the scene. While he was doing that, Dylan was putting on her lab coat, until she saw the name on the front. R. Wolfe. They were his old ones. She snuck a glance at him, but he didn't notice. She started thinking about how hard this whole situation must be for him, coming back to the people who'd hurt him so badly.

When she'd first met Ryan, he'd been bitter, overly sarcastic and snarky. He had hardly spared the kid a glance, and when Captain Page had left her with him, he'd made it perfectly clear that they were co-workers, _not _friends. This had hurt her, she didn't know why, but it did. And their relationship had stayed that way, bitter partnership, until the day that Ryan's face was tarnished by the scratch that ran across his face.

_*Flashback*_

_Dylan ran after Ryan, who was desperate to save the girl that the werewolf had grabbed. He wasn't going to let them take another innocent person, not again. They were _not _getting away from him this time._

_Ryan caught up with the werewolf and grabbed his right arm to spin him around. The girl fell to the ground and curled up there, crawling to get away from the scene. Ryan, no longer worried about the girl, snatched his blaster from his jacket, pointing it at the large dog, but he wasn't quick enough. The wolf slapped it from his hands, flinging it across the alley way. Ryan immediately lunged for the wolf, determined to kill it no matter the cost. _

_The pair fell to the floor, wrestling against each other. The wolf's claws slashed through his clothes, cutting the skin under the fabric. Blood seeped through the wounds, but Ryan hardly registered the pain. His fists flew into the wolf's face, pounding against his snout. Red washed over his knuckles and both their faces. They rolled until Ryan was straddling the wolf, punching him continuously. He let all the anger and rage out into the mutt's mouth. Then, he heard a scream._

_The girl and finally realized what was going on and had panicked when she saw the bloody man on top of a huge man-dog. Ryan quickly looked up at her, trying to find the cause of her yell, not realizing it was his own appearance, matted in blood and wounds. The wolf took advantage of his distraction and flipped their positions. He took his huge paw and raised it above his head. The wolf brought it down and only one claw made it to the perfect face. It slashed through the skin, opening it up grotesquely. Blood came pouring out of the scratch, covering his face and getting in his eyes._

_Ryan had lost so much blood; things were starting to get fuzzy. He felt a huge weight push down on him, threatening to pull him into oblivion. His eyes closed as the wolf's paw came up for the killing strike._

_Seeing Ryan, bloody and scarred, under a giant wolf that was ready to kill him set Dylan off. She raised her blaster to the wolf and, with a strangled cry, fired once. It hit the wolf square in the chest, toppling him off of Ryan. She ran straight to her fallen partner and looked at him. His skin was marred and bloody with marks from the claws of a huge beast. She was pissed, scared, and so very worried. But she didn't know why. After months of snarky remarks, you think you wouldn't care about someone, but she did. She'd seen the pain in his eyes. Whatever had happened in Miami, he didn't deserve it. _

"_Hang on, Jonathan," she said, hearing ambulances in the distance. "It's going to be okay. You'll make it, J.R. You have too!" She was basically screaming at him. She used her own jacket to press against his skin, trying, and failing, to stop the bleeding. _

_Then, a strangled groan was heard from the suffering detective. The nickname, J.R., had surprised him. No one called him that. His eyes fluttered open, looking at his young partner, no, not partner. His young friend. Ryan gave her a small smile, wincing as it caused the wound on his face to crinkle. "Dylan, it's okay," he breathed out, his voice just above a whisper. Then, he felt tears hitting his face. Dylan was crying, and they both knew why._

_They cared about each other. Dylan never had a father, so he was like one to her. And Ryan really needed a friend, and he'd found one in a talkative, ADHD, Adderall addicted kid. For once in Ryan's life, he knew that this was a long lasting friendship._

_*End Flashback*_

Dylan smiled to herself as she remembered that moment when they truly became friends. And she wouldn't have it any other way.

Ryan looked up from the necklace. "I think I have some blood on it, and it doesn't look human… What are you smiling about?" Ryan asked, looking confused.

Dylan just turned her smile to him. "Nothing, J.R. It's just… Nothing."

"Alright," Ryan said, smiling himself. Dylan only called him J.R. when she was feeling especially affectionate.

They began processing the rest of the evidence until everything was basically done. Ryan was currently running the DNA from the blood that was on the necklace through a SU2 scanner, which was only used to run link DNA. Dylan was taking off her gloves and throwing them in the trash. Then, there was a knock at the door. Dylan ran to it, about to open it, but then she stopped.

"Who is it?" Dylan asked pompously.

"It's Natalia. Can I talk to Ryan?" a voice asked through the glass door.

Dylan turned to Ryan who pursed his lips. Then he nodded, took off his lab coat and made his way to the door. He turned to Dylan and said, "Watch the test, alright."

Not waiting for an answer, he quickly opened the door, and closed it, using his body to block what was going on in there.

Ryan turned to face Natalia, a woman who he thought once he could've had something with, but he'd been wrong. She hadn't been interested.

Natalia looked at Ryan, eyes lingering on the scar, and she couldn't help but wonder what had happened. But she shook the feeling off.

"Um, Ryan, I just wanted to talk to you. Er, can I ask you something?" Natalia asked hesitantly.

Ryan gave her a small smile, causing his scar to crinkle. _He looks sexy when it crinkles. _Natalia thought, and then surprise went through her. Sexy? Since when did Natalia think he was sexy?

"I'm here talking to you, aren't I? I think you can ask me something," Ryan said, interrupting her thoughts.

"Why'd you leave CSI? I mean, I know Cal and Eric were kind of, well, mean, but that didn't stop you before," Natalia replied, honestly curious.

It was Ryan's turn to be shocked. He looked at her with wide eyes and a skeptical look. "You're joking, right?" he asked, cynically.

Natalia shook her head, her confused expression showing Ryan she wasn't joking. Ryan just narrowed his eyes and asked, "Horatio didn't tell you?" He was incredulous.

Natalia blinked back. "Horatio didn't tell me what?" she asked.

**Author's Note: **So, I explained the scar. And I hope the "longer than normal" chapter kind of makes up for the delay. And next chapter we get to see why Horatio didn't tell _anyone_. Okay? So… Review. Review. Review!


	6. Tales Yet to be Told

**Author's Note: **This chapter took so long because there's some painful crap going on in my life. Sorry it's kind of delayed.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own CSI: Miami or Special Unit 2. I only own my OC and the plot.

**Tales Yet to be Told**

Natalia was so confused. Horatio didn't tell them there was a specific reason that Ryan had left. He'd said, quote, unquote, "He needed a change in direction." And, if there was a reason, why hadn't he told them?

Ryan just narrowed his eyes. It was so typical of Horatio to keep something that big to the rest of the team. Of course he wouldn't explain why Ryan left, why he had to frame someone, why he had to hide evidence from everyone.

To say that Ryan was angry was a bit of an understatement. He just clenched his fists and glared at Natalia. Then, he made up his mind. Horatio was going to tell them _everything. _

Ryan walked around Natalia, uttering a quick "follow me," which she quickly obliged to. They were both so confused, though only one was angry.

They found Horatio talking to Eric and Calleigh about another case they were supposed to be working on. Ryan quickly walked up to them, receiving glares and shocked expressions. He swiftly interrupted their conversation.

"Why didn't you tell them?" Ryan asked with a cold, steely glare at the man he had once thought a hero. Horatio just looked at him with a mild surprise, and… Was that nervousness?

Horatio just cleared his throat and fumbled with his sunglasses. "What are you talking about, Mr. Wolfe?" He was avoiding Ryan's eyes and anxiously putting his sunglasses on his face.

Horatio had barely finished his question when Ryan spoke up, anger tinting his voice. "Oh, you know _exactly _what I'm talking about H-, uh, Caine. I want you to explain to these three why the fuck you kept the fact that I was kidnapped and forced to work for the Russians a secret!" Ryan voice was barely under a scream now. Some people had even stopped and stared.

Eric, Calleigh, and Natalia stood there watching. They were shocked when they noticed Horatio was nervous because, well, let's face it. Horatio was never nervous. They were even more shocked when they heard Ryan cuss, because they'd never heard hi use any curse words except the mild ones. And, they were downright, open-mouthed, eyes-wide, surprised when Ryan said _"I was kidnapped…" _

"What?" Calleigh was the first one to recover. She thought the whole situation through fairly quickly, and then began to feel so very guilty about, well, everything.

Ryan just put on a bitter smirk that came out as more of a sneer and turned to her. "You heard me, Duquesne. Your _precious _H didn't tell you that I was taken, tortured, and forced to cover up that case or they'd kill Billy!" Ryan turned back to glare at Horatio who stood there with no emotion on his face.

Eric looked between them. "H, is it true?"

Horatio hung his head slightly. "Yes, Eric, it's true. Mr. Wolfe was kidnapped and forced to help the Russians in exchange for Billy's safety." They all knew who Billy was. The kid of Ryan's sponsor back when his gambling days still had some hold over his life.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Natalia asked, her eyes bright with unshed tears. They'd been so cruel to Ryan when they'd found out he hid evidence. And they hadn't even know why. They should've asked him. They should have given him a chance to explain. They should have… The possibilities kept running through her head as she thought of all the things they should have done. How could they have been so stupid?

Horatio sighed and turned to them, trying to ignore Ryan's furious glare, which was a huge improvement from all his earlier, non-emotional emotions. "I didn't tell you because I wasn't sure it would be important because Mr. Wolfe had already resigned before I had the chance to explain it all. I apologize, but I wasn't sure if you wanted them to know…" Horatio said, facing Ryan again.

Ryan thought over all that he had said. They were pretty reasonable explanations, but Ryan wasn't going to forgive them all just like that. He turned to the old team, their concerned (Natalia), guilty (Calleigh), and downright shameful (Eric) faces sending the same pang through his heart that the lab coats had. But he pushed it away. He couldn't let go of the fact that they'd betrayed him, turned their backs on him when he'd needed them most. He wouldn't forgive them. He _couldn't. _

"Well, there you go. You all know why I did it. But don't expect this to change _anything,_" Ryan said, his gaze more towards Eric than the others. After that, he quickly turned around and stomped his way back to the lab, leaving them in his wake.

Ryan practically tore the door off its hinges with how much force he opened it with. But the sight he saw was enough to put a small, small smile on his face.

Dylan sat in the one swivel chair they had, in front of the SU2 DNA scanner. Her head was turned towards the door, resting on the table. She was sleeping, her mouth slightly open. There were no worry lines on her face, of which she had many with her job and the stress it caused. It made her look so… Peaceful.

Ryan walked over to the scanner, still smiling. He looked over the results, deciding to let his partner sleep a little more. And he was right. Ogre DNA was on that necklace. Now they just needed to find the one responsible for all of it. Ryan quickly looked over all the results, seeing if there were any foreign traces in the link's blood, but there was none. He then noticed the video tapes they had gotten from the store and realized that they'd never checked them.

Ryan lightly tapped his partner, failing to wake her up. "Dylan," he whispered, "wake up." But she stayed in that peaceful state of unconsciousness. He frowned, wondering how to get her up. Then, he got an idea.

Placing his hands right beside her ears, he clapped while yelling, "Silas!" He called her by her last name, knowing it was a sure way to wake her up. And she did. Dylan shot up and started blinking furiously.

"What! What?" she asked, calming down. Ryan just smiled at the state of his partner.

"Does Dylan wanna do me a favor?" Ryan said, slightly biting his lower lip and pushing his eyebrows together while staring at her. Dylan looked at him with evident suspicion and crossed her arms.

"Alright, whatcha want?" She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes at him.

"Can you pretty please watch those video tapes? I'll be your best buddy," Ryan said, looking up at her through his long hair which fell forward into his face and smiling lightly, still biting his lower lip. He looked so innocent and young, but it was fooling Dylan. He'd pulled this look on her to many times for her to believe it, but that didn't mean she wasn't affected by it.

He was absolutely breath taking when he did his look. She, nor could any human being who wasn't blind, could deny that. Dylan sighed at this childish notion and rolled her eyes.

"Fine, I'll do it. But you owe me, big time," she said, giving in quickly, knowing she would eventually.

Ryan just smiled and pecked her cheek, making her blush slightly. He walked over to the edge of their lab and sat down on the floor next to a whole that had gathered in the tarp they'd put up. It was big enough that they could both clearly see out of it, but it would be impossible to see into it.

Dylan popped in the video tapes and clicked play. While it was buffering, she looked at Ryan, hurting at the sight she saw.

Ryan was watching as his old co-workers laughed at a joke that the new guy had said. She'd bumped into him when she was making coffee and he seemed pretty cool, though she couldn't remember his name. Walter? William? Anyway, she watched as Ryan slightly cringed at this. He blinked a couple of times, like he was trying to fight tears. He fumbled with the bottom of his shirt, biting his lip in hurt, instead of innocence, and then quickly looked away only to look back at them a few milliseconds later.

As Dylan watched this she couldn't help but think that it was beautifully depressing. She then heard the video start up and then turned her head to the small screen. It showed a man following a crudely dressed girl into the ally. Then the man turned toward the camera and Dylan froze it. She cropped the image to his face and brightened the picture to get a clear look at him.

She kept her eyes on the screen and called out to Ryan. "Hey, Jonathan, I got a picture of the Ogre before he changed. Think this could help?"

Ryan stood up from his position on the floor and went over to gaze at the image on the screen. He looked for a second, doing a double-take. His mouth dropped and eyes blew wide as he saw the face.

"Oh my God."

**Author's Note:** So, cliff hanger. Yeah! Anyway, who do YOU think the Ogre should be? It's obviously someone Ryan knows, so it can be anyone. Enemies, one of the CSIs, family? Who knows? And, come on, only _one _review last chapter. We can do better than that! And the beautifully depressing line was shamelessly ripped from "Memories" by Panic! At the Disco. Anyway, Review! Don't be a silent reader!


	7. Shocking Betrayal

**Author's Note: **May I start off by saying that I'm so fucking sorry that this took so long. It's just... Life has kicked me in the fucking face and things are just so hectic and messed up right now. I promise I'll try and update as soon as I can. I promise you this.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything related to CSI: Miami and Special Unit 2. I only own the plot and Dylan, who I am basing heavily on myself.

**Shocking Betrayal**

Ryan stared at the face on the screen. His mouth had flapped open and he couldn't believe his eyes. There was no way it could be right. It was impossible!

"Dylan," Ryan started off, gulping, "are you positive that this is the guy?" He was so nervous. His palms were sweating and his tongue had gone dry.

Dylan just gazed at the shocked face of her partner. She gave him a small smirk and said, "I'm not just positive. I'm H.I.V. positive." Her attempt at lightening the mood was quickly shot down.

"This is no time for jokes, Silas!" Ryan was fuming. He was pissed because, not only had he been betrayed by his team, but he'd been betrayed by a close friend. He gripped the lapels of Dylan's lab coat and lifted her off the swivel chair slightly. "You're sure that you did nothing to change the image, and that all you did was clear it up?" His voice was low and dangerous.

The girl gulped at the sight of him. His eyes were wide and slightly crazed. "Um, yes, I'm sure that I did nothing but clear the image up, sir." Dylan was scared, not because he would hurt her, but because he would hurt someone, most likely the next guy he saw.

Ryan let her go and then ran a hand through his hair. He huffed and then turned to walk out the door.

He couldn't look at the face of his long time best friend, Mark Gantry.

MIAMICRIMELAB MIAMICRIMELAB

Dylan waited for what felt like hours until she gave up on it. She jumped from her seat and set out to find Ryan. She thought about what had happened earlier. As soon as Ryan had left she'd looked the guy up on CODIS. The guy had a couple of collars for gambling and drug possession. She wasn't exactly sure how Ryan knew they guy. To her, Ryan was a stand up man, kind and caring, yet not to be fucked with. It was safe to say that Dylan idolized him… And maybe had a slight, childish crush, but it was mild.

She searched the entire lab, getting lost once or twice along the way. Along the way, she saw some of the team which she slightly despised only because they caused Ryan so much pain. Though he didn't show it, Dylan knew it hurt Ryan to be back here. The cold exterior he'd worked so hard to put up in Chicago was breaking down, piece by fucking piece.

As she traveled through the lab, her mind started to drift. And once her mind did that, she couldn't pay attention to her surroundings. Dylan soon forgot who she was looking for and started wandering. She slowly stumbled into the ballistics lab and just happened to run into a certain Southern blonde.

"Ow," Dylan exclaimed, even though it didn't hurt at all. The papers Calleigh had been holding scattered all over the floor and just caused a huge mess.

Calleigh groaned and then crouched down to start picking them up. Dylan stood there for a moment before she realized that she had to be polite and civilized… Just this once.

Dylan got on her knees and started collecting the papers, putting them in order without even realizing it. She'd sort of inherited Ryan's OCD while working with him. His papers always needed to be in order, so she'd just gotten used to doing it without thinking. Even when Ryan's OCD went away, for it was stress related, she still did it. Old habits die hard.

The black-haired girl gave Calleigh the papers while the blonde just stared at her. Calleigh took them and put them into the folder.

"Um, thanks," Calleigh said, unsure of anything to say besides that.

"No problem, Miss," Dylan mumbled, realizing that she'd never bothered to learn Blondie's name.

"It's Calleigh," the blonde said, understanding this as well. The women both fidgeted in their positions. They weren't sure if they should leave or make small talk. The latter probably wasn't going to happen, though. Dylan, being seriously frightened of long silences for personal reasons, broke it with a totally expected comment.

"What happened that made J.R., I mean, Ryan leave?" Dylan asked. She was concerned about her partner and if she needed information about his past to help him, she'd be damned if _anyone _kept her from getting it.

Calleigh sighed, wondering how she should explain it to the young girl. She opted for defensive rather than expressive. "You wouldn't understand. You're just a kid." Making fun of her young age seemed like a good attempt to get her to drop it.

Dylan's eyes just narrowed. She was tired of getting the cold shoulder. "Cut the bullshit, Blondie. When Jon, uh, Ryan, er, Wolfe, or whatever the fuck you guys call him, came to the lab, he was bitter. Hell, he could barely go two minutes without snapping at someone. I want to know what the fuck you guys did to him, and I want to know NOW!" Dylan yelled the last word. She was lucky no one was nearby.

Calleigh took in this information and just looked to the ground, defeated. She knew that this girl wasn't going to give up. "Ryan, well, he was… Kidnapped and forced to work for these really bad Russians, and if he didn't they'd well; they would've killed this little boy if he didn't. But we didn't know about this, so when he hid the evidence that would have solved the case we threw him out of the lab and we were so mean. We should've asked him why. Then he wouldn't have left and he'd still be here. Ryan would've met Jesse and Walter and they'd have been great friends. He would have been there to crack jokes try to make everyone feel better when Jesse died and…" Calleigh trailed off, tears threatening to come out of her eyes. She put her face in her hands and just shook her head slightly as little sobs rocked her body.

Dylan stood there, surprise ramming through her veins. She now had a backstory to the very aloof J.R. Wolfe. A very sad and brutal backstory. Her mind processed every word before she realized that Calleigh was crying. She reached a hand out and gently patted the blonde on the back. Dylan was all of the sudden very exhausted. She didn't like what they'd done to Ryan, and she didn't want to believe it but, she was felling pity for the blonde.

As soon as that thought hit her, she took her hand back. Dylan looked at Calleigh and said, "I should go… I gotta look for J.R." She quickly turned at walked briskly towards the doorway. She didn't look back at the blonde, but she turned her head slightly and murmured, "Thank you," before leaving, not noticing that Calleigh nodded back to her.

Dylan quickly sauntered away from the ballistics lab. She now had a new understanding of the blonde that she frankly didn't want. As she trudged throughout the lab, she noticed a glass door that led to the back of the lab, which was practically a sandy beach minus the ocean. It was cracked open slightly, so that she could feel the cold, night air coming through it.

She walked out the door and looked around until she saw a figure sitting on the ground and looking at the starry night sky. She bent down and untied her Nike Dunks, slipping them off and leaving them behind with the white Converse.

Dylan walked over to Ryan's sitting form and stood next to him, waiting for him to speak.

She got her wish.

"I was wondering when you were gonna find me," Ryan said quietly, his lips barely moving. He patted the sand next to him, motioning for Dylan to join him. The young girl quickly took a seat, Indian style, and just looked up at the stars.

Ryan leaned back, resting his back against the cold sand. He'd spent the past couple of hours thinking, just thinking. He thought about how many people had betrayed him in his life: his old co-workers, his friends, old girlfriends, his brother… Oh, yes, his brother. But that was a different story.

Dylan looked at Ryan and followed his lead, laying her back to the sand. Then, out of nowhere, Ryan's hand brushed against hers. He intertwined their fingers and they just lay there, hand in hand. And Dylan didn't question the notion. She knew what it was. It was not the feeling of love or anything like that. It was just needing to feel, emotionally and physically.

They lay there for what felt like hours but was only minutes. Soon, they heard the door open and they both sat up. They turned to see Eric, shuffling his feet at the doorway. He looked like a kid who had just caught his parents being all lovey-dovey. And he should. He'd just interrupted a very private moment.

"Um, Wolfe, H. wanted to know if you and… Dylan had anything knew on the case, you know, before shift ended," he said, momentarily forgetting the little pain in his ass's name.

Ryan's smile from the earlier moments just faded. He had to tell them about his friend.

**Author's Note: **So, that's it. Yeah, for those of you who don't know Mark Gantry, he's Ryan's sponsor from his gambling days and Billy is his son. So, yeah. Any questions, suggestions, reviews? Especially the reviews!


	8. Science and Faith

**Author's Note: **I'm not even going to comment about how late this is. I've just had major writer's block, and if I had continued the story earlier, I would have made some HUGE mistakes. Anyway, please don't kill me.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything. And this chapter title belongs to The Script.

**Science and Faith**

Ryan paced in the break room, counting his steps as he wore a whole in the glass floor. Dylan, Horatio, and the team just sprawled themselves out on the couches in the small room, watching as the brunette traveled back and forth, back and forth.

Ryan just took his hand and wiped it across his face, as if he could pull his expression from the flesh. He was so confused. He didn't want to believe the science that told him his friend; the friend he thought would never betray him, would go and be a monster, an abomination. He wanted to hold onto that faith that told him that Mark wouldn't do something like that. Life's a bitch like that, isn't it?

Dylan sighed and spoke up. "Are you gonna tell them, or am I?"

Upon hearing her words, Ryan jumped a little. It had been silent for so long. He took a deep breath and looked at the faces of his peers, there shamed faces.

"We know who the killer is," Ryan said.

The teams' expressions didn't change. No flicker of emotion; they had dealt with this kind of thing all the time.

"Well, Mr. Wolfe, who is it," Horatio asked in a smooth, calm tone.

Ryan looked at the floor. "Mark, Mark Gantry is the killer," Ryan said, choking a bit on the name.

A few people gasped, others just stared. One person, however, just knew it was coming.

"Oh, of course it's him," Eric sneered, "Of course it'd be Wolfe's friend. I knew we couldn't trust that son of a bitch. He was trouble from the first sight. Wolfe, I knew your friend was no good." He finished by glaring at Ryan. His words just sent the pale brunette man over the edge.

"You know what, Delko," Ryan snapped, his head flying up to meet Eric's glare, "just shut the fuck up! I'm tired of your pretentious shit! You've had nothing but crap for me ever since I got back. Even when Horatio finally fuckin' manned up and told you _why _I left, you still were a total bastard, and I'm tired of it!"

Ryan swiftly walked up to Eric, meeting him eye to eye. The Cuban didn't even move back he was so shocked. What was even more surprising was that when Ryan was standing that close to him, neither of them had to look up or down. Ryan apparently had a growth spurt in his time in Chicago, making them about the same height. OCD wasn't the only thing stress related.

Ryan didn't even acknowledge this fact. He just continued with his rant. "You're such a fucking asshole about _everything _that I'm so surprised I put up with it as long as I did. So, just sit the fuck down and shut the fuck up!"

By the end of this rant, Ryan's chest was puffing up and down, and the others were just staring at him blankly. No one had ever heard Ryan cuss that much before. Maybe there was an occasional mild curse word every now and then, but still.

Silence was like a thick blanket that fell over the room. It literally darkened the corners of the room, engulfing it, suffocating the people in it, until-

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap* everyone turned to the right, only to see Dylan sitting in the corner, clapping at her partner's Grammy winning performance. Her lips were turned up into an ear-to-ear smile as she eagerly watched the situation. Ryan just rolled his eyes and snorted.

"Okay, now that we've established who the killer is, Ryan's anger, and the fact that Eric's an asshole," Dylan said, smirking, "there's one thing we haven't established."

No one replied simply because no one knew what she was talking about.

"What is it, Dill," Ryan replied, exasperated.

"How do we catch the guy? Cuz it's pretty obvious no one knows where the fuck he is!" Dylan said like she was seeing something there that the others weren't. Which she was.

Ryan froze. How was he going to capture and arrest one of his closest friends? Then, it hit him.

"Dylan, what do you say about your first undercover mission?" Ryan smiled at her, giving her the "look."

The ice-blue eyed girl just grew excited. "Yes, a thousand times, yes! What do I get to do?" She jumped up and down in her seat.

Ryan just cocked an eyebrow. "I'll explain it, but calm yourself, kid."

"I can't help it if I like what I do," Dylan said, bouncing even faster.

Ryan just smiled, despite the situation. "I like what I do to, but at least I don't vibrate in place."

Dylan just narrowed her eyes. 'Okay, what?"

"Well," Ryan started, biting his lip, "You know how every victim is a prostitute, right?"

"Yeah," Dylan said, very suspicious at this point.

"And you are very pretty and night-like," Ryan drew out, biting his lip.

"Yeah," Dylan said again. He wouldn't have her…

"How would you like your first undercover mission to be as a… Promiscuous girl." Ryan scrunched up his eyes, waiting.

"What!" Dylan jumped out of her seat, not from excitement this time. "You're out of your god damn mother-fucking mind!"

"Dylan, language!" Ryan chastised, acting like he hadn't used the exact same language moments before. He just smirked at this reaction. The glint in his eye was very mischievous.

Eric just stared at the two, shocked at how the atmosphere of the room could change so dramatically.

"I'll use whatever kind of language I want! How dare you ask me to flaunt my body as if it was a cupcake to a fat kid?" Dylan was pissed, no doubt about it.

"Please, Dylan, just this once," Ryan pleaded. This automatically stopped her. Ryan never begged. Well, only in bed.

_Tasteless joke, Dylan. _The young girl told herself. She shook her head and said, "No, Ryan…"

"Please," Ryan said, his eyes boring into hers, trying to will her to agree. The girl didn't seem to notice how important this was to him. The killer was his friend, a close, close friend. Mark was someone he thought he could always count on, and now? He was another killer. Ryan had to be the one to catch him, to put him in link-jail. It was his friend, his responsibility. He had to do it, he was driven to do it. If he didn't… He didn't want to think of that.

"Alright," Dylan said, "I'll do it."

Ryan smiled and grabbed her arm, pulling her into a bear hug. It was short lived, however, someone spoke up.

"I don't think I can allow that, Mr. Wolfe," Horatio said, taking off his glasses and wiping the lenses on his button-up.

"Why not?" Ryan asked incredulously. He was shocked; Horatio had never been one to turn down an undercover mission if it got a killer off the street.

Slipping his glasses back on, he replied, "Miss Silas is just a young girl. It'd be too dangerous for her. She'd be out there alone, and I don't want any casualties."

"Because that's all she'd be to you; a casualty," Ryan said, regaining his guarded composure.

"That's not true, Mr. Wolfe, and you know that." Horatio tilted his head while looking at him.

"Cut the bull shit. I know that's all she'd be to you because she's not part of your precious team. Don't worry. I get it. I was there once. I know firsthand what it's like to be an outcast. So, it's not like anything's knew." Ryan just crossed his arms, staring Horatio down.

"Well," Dylan said, "I'm going to go shopping for some very slutty clothing. Who wants to come with and get out of this tension-filled room?"

Natalia and Calleigh immediately shot out of their seats and followed Dylan out the break room door.

**Author's Note:** Well? Do you like it? Please let me now. I'm a little worried about the lack of response I'm getting. Review, please!


	9. Don't Dwell on the Past

**Author's Note: **Please don't kill me. I'll make it up, I promise.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything! If I did… Never mind.

**Don't Dwell on the Past**

Dylan, Natalia, and Calleigh walked around the lingerie shop, looking for something that would "spark interest." If Dylan was ever going to get an Ogre to try and take her home, she'd need to look sort of, well, slutty.

After a tension filled car ride there, they all quickly busied themselves with checking out the clothes. Calleigh and Natalia both showed her some things that might work, but she'd swiftly turned them down. Well, she'd actually said, "Hell no!"

Calleigh shuffled through the racks, looking for pieces of skimpy clothing in size small. Her mind was running. She'd never seen Ryan that angry and out of control before. It made her sad, frustrated, that they were causing this. As she though back, the blonde Southerner realized that she could have been nicer, kinder, and maybe she could have taken Ryan's side more often. _Don't dwell on the past. _She thought.

Natalia ran her fingers over the fabric, not really paying attention to what she was riffling through. Ryan's outburst had shocked her too, almost breaking her heart. She had to constantly remind herself, ever since he came back, that they would just never work. It was impossible. Ryan had been hurt too much for something like that. Natalia just sighed. _Don't dwell on the past._

Dylan stalked the aisles, looking like a total creeper. She really wasn't looking forward to this assignment, but if it meant catching a killer and helping her partner, she was all for it. Ryan was her protector, her harbor, her solace. The young woman couldn't imagine working with another agent. She and Ryan clicked from the very beginning, even if they tried ignoring it. They were family, the only family each other had left. _Don't dwell on the past._

As, the blonde woman ran her hand along a revealing pink piece, she held it up for Dylan to see. "How about this one?" she asked, hopefully. Calleigh wanted to leave!

Dylan barely gave it a glance before replying, "No." She yawned, emphasizing how tired everyone was.

Natalia just blew out a puff of air, and rolled her eyes. This didn't go unnoted by Dylan.

"What's up with you?" Dylan replied, almost sounding snobby.

"What's up with me?" Natalia asked, incredulously. "We've been here for _hours. _Pick something already!"

Dylan puffed her chest up, getting ready if it turned physical; though it was doubtful Natalia would be the one to throw the first punch.

"Look, I just want to get it perfect. If you got a problem, go deal with it somewhere else. I don't need the crap that you've been waiting to throw at Jon- uh, Ryan. Just chill your fucking beans, alright?" Dylan angrily snapped.

Natalia then moved until she was standing directly in front of Dylan. "What do you mean by that? Ryan's my friend! It wasn't my fault he left!"

"But you didn't ask him to stay! You didn't keep him from leaving! You all pretend to be something you're not. You pretend that you were all 'buddy-buddy' with Ryan when you weren't! Stop acting like you're his friends because you aren't!" Dylan was screaming know, attracting attention from the others in the store.

Calleigh went over to break the fight up when something, black, red, and lacy caught her eye. She grabbed a small and made her way over to the brawl.

Natalia narrowed her eyes. "We are too his friends!"

Dylan clenched her fists. "Nuh uh!"

Calleigh walked until she was standing near the middle of them. "Guys-"she tried saying.

"Yeah huh!" Natalia screamed.

"Nuh uh!" Dylan shouted back.

"Guys-"

"Yeah huh!"

"Nuh-"

"GUYS!" Calleigh screamed, her voice overriding the two immature investigators. It was at that moment they realized how many people they'd attracted. Dylan looked at Calleigh sheepishly while Natalia stared at the floor.

Calleigh then held up the piece of clothing in her hands, raising her eyebrows at Dylan. Dylan looked it over. She was impressed. Tonight, that Ogre wouldn't know what hit him.

"Alright, that one will do," Dylan said amused.

Calleigh and Natalia shared a conspiringly look. They were both thinking the same thing; makeover!

MIAMICRIMELAB MIAMICRIMELAB

All of the boys were back at the crime lab, sitting in the break room. Eric and Ryan kept throwing each other death glares. The phrase "If looks could kill" seemed to come in handy in this situation. Horatio fiddled with his sunglasses, Frank stirred his coffee nervously, and Walter, the new guy, just looked at Ryan, wondering what his story was.

Eric glanced at Ryan, just as the brunette looked away. The Cuban was getting fed up with this back-and-forth looks.

"What's wrong with you, Wolfe? What happened to you? You were such a good little kid, and then you blew it," Delko asked, not thinking before he said it.

Ryan turned his wide eyed expression on him, his eyebrows reaching into his hairline. He opened his mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. It made him look like a fish.

"What's wrong with me? You have the nerve to ask that? What's wrong with you? You abandoned me, threw me away like yesterday's newspaper. I never really mattered to you, and I never will! So, yeah, I'm the one with the problem." Ryan was livid. One more wrong move and Delko would end up with a bloody nose.

Eric stood up from where he was sitting. "Wolfe, you're such an immature child. I thought a guy with OCD like you would be the perfect little puppet, but it seems even disorders that serious can't reign in the _big, bad Wolfe._" Eric then smiled pompously, satisfied with his work.

Ryan looked at him with a bored expression on his face and stood. "Ha, ha! Delko that's so funny! The last time I heard it I fell off my dinosaur!"

Delko's chest puffed out, much like Dylan's and he started, "Wow, Wolfe. That's the best you could do. That's just embar-"

Eric never finished his sentence because, all of the sudden, a pale, ashy fist came out of nowhere and flew into his nose. Eric doubled back, gripping his nose as it started bleeding profusely. When he looked up, he saw Walter holding Ryan back, for the now-tall brunette was still trying to come at him. Horatio and Frank tried to get Eric to stand on his clumsy feet. Man, Ryan could hit!

Eventually, Ryan broke out of the new guy's grasp and pushed Horatio and Frank out of the way. When did Ryan get so strong?

Ryan tackled Eric back onto the floor and flung his fists. Eric's head smashed against the glass floor and his nose became a bloody mess, but Ryan was _not _letting up, or showing any intention of doing so.

Horatio, Frank, and Walter were desperately trying to pull the anger fueled Ryan off of Eric, but it had little effect. Adrenaline coursed through Ryan's veins, filling him with enough strength to stay on top of Eric, despite the others' efforts to get him off, and still continuously beating him.

Horatio was trying to talk Ryan down. "Mr. Wolfe, Mr. Wolfe," Horatio started, "RYAN!"

Hearing his first name coming out of Horatio's mouth stopped Ryan dead. His fists stopped fumbling their way on Eric's face and he looked at him, shocked. This moment of surprise was all Eric needed.

The muscly Cuban took this distraction as an opportunity to flip their positions. Ryan stayed shocked, not expecting this. Eric's closed hand came crashing down onto Ryan's cheek. He repeated the action until it started bleeding. The others now tried pulling Eric off of Ryan, succeeding in the first try.

Ryan sat up, and he held his cheek. He looked down at his collared white shirt. Red marks dotted their way across his chest. It was not his blood though.

He looked up to see Eric, and this only added to his surprise.

After that main bout of adrenaline, Eric's body finally succumbed to blood loss. The Cuban's vision was growing fuzzy and pain was starting to set in. He kept his hand to his nose, trying to stop the heavy bleeding that Ryan's left hook had caused.

Ryan looked at the wound and felt ashamed. He didn't want to hurt anybody, it'd just happened. He stood, up, wiping his bloody hand on his jeans, not even caring that more than half of it was Eric's.

Ryan walked up to Eric, hating how when he got close, Eric flinched. Ryan bent down and brought his hands to Eric's face. The Cuban immediately pushed him away, but with little strength.

"Let me help. I broke your nose. I have to set it back," Ryan said tiredly. God, this was killing him. Eric had been his best friend for crying out loud!

Eric let his facial space be invaded by Ryan's hands. The pale man then put his out of place nose between his thumbs and pushed. Eric let out a loud yelp at the pain and quickly tried to cover his nose again, but he was stopped by Ryan's hands.

"Don't you dare put that hand up," Ryan said sternly. Eric nodded and looked at the man he was friends with. Maybe, this fight was a good thing.

"Why are you guys bleeding?" A voice came out of nowhere to ask.

All the guys looked up at the voice to see Dylan. All of their mouths opened in shock.

Ryan's eyes bugged out of his skull. "Holy shit, talking mushrooms!"

**Author's Note:** Reviews, suggestions, ideas? Let me know! Oh, and I forgot to do this in the other chapters but thanks to EVERYONE who reviewed!


	10. Hear That Sound? It's His Heart Breaking

**Author's Note: **I know why my updates are so late. I have no schedule to them. So, now, I'm going to update once, maybe twice, every Friday. Okay, so I hope this kind of makes up for the almost-a-month late update.

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing. Do I have to do this every chapter, or do you get the point? I DON"T OWN ANYTHING!

**Hear That Sound? It's His Heart Breaking**

Ryan stared, open-eyed, wide-mouthed, at the sight before him. Jonathan Ryan Wolfe had only been speechless a few times in his long, stretched out years. This time, though, the shock was intensified for everyone.

Standing in the doorway, hands on her hips, not even noticing that the lapels of her tan overcoat were flapping, was Dylan. The girls had really meant it when they were "making her over."

Her long, obsidian hair was wavy, flowing down her back, near her waist. The pale face that Dylan called hers was accented by the lightest touches of make-up. The blush colored her cheeks; the lipstick darkened her lips, giving them a puckered look, and her eyes…. Her eyes! The usually bare, icy blue eyes were lined with black, smoky in their gaze. They were heavy-lidded, almost dream-like, weighed down with long, thick lashes. The girl looked beautiful. Her outfit, however, was what gave them the most shock.

The one-piece corset was red and black, lace covering her bust. It was frilly and _very _revealing. Covered in lace and fishnets, it was the perfect stripper uniform.

Ryan was up to his feet in a flash. He hadn't even registered he'd moved until he was standing right in front of her. Dylan gave him a wary expression.

"What on earth are you gawking at with your swollen face?" Dylan asked her sarcasm cutting through his surprise.

Ryan's shock swiftly changed into disbelief. "What am I gawking at? Look at yourself! Don't take this the wrong way, but you look fuckin' hot!" Ryan swiveled around her, taking in the view from all angles. Then he noticed that the blush wasn't the only thing coloring her cheeks.

Dylan quickly pulled the overcoat closed, her eyes cast downwards. God! Only Ryan could make her that embarrassed with what was clearly a compliment, though a very crude one.

"You know, this brings me to my original question: Why are you bleeding? And I mean both of you!" Dylan said, trying to take the attention off of her.

Ryan looked sheepishly at Eric, who gave him a small broken and bloodied smile in return. The brunette looked back at Dylan and said, "We beat the shit outta each otha'."

"Okay," Dylan started, "I'm going to ignore your blatant disregard for all things that are pronounced correctly and say cool." Dylan started to walk towards the couch, where Walter had taken a spot, staring as this train wreck unfolded. "P.S. Ryan, I like the accent."

It was Ryan's turn to blush. Damn his New Yorker accent.

Calleigh and Natalia chose that moment to walk in, both in awe of Ryan's beet red face. They both shook it off, though. Both women did, however, shoot a small smile to Dylan.

Horatio looked at everyone in this room. Okay, he hated to do this, but play time was over. It was time to get to work.

Ryan beat him to the punch.

"Alright guys, as much as I'd love to ogle this fluffy scene, we have work that must be done. So, Dylan, tonight we go out at about nine, and from there we…"

Ryan's plan unfolded in front of their very eyes. For a moment, the team took time to be proud, but it was shot down when Ryan started assigning parts. Everyone had a specific job they had to do, and the brunette leader made sure that they all knew it.

After explaining the plan, Dylan's face became very pale. She looked at all of them and uttered, "Holy shit, talking mushrooms."

All Ryan did was smile, his faded, beloved scar crinkling on his cheek.

MIAMICRIMELAB MIAMICRIMELAB

The beautiful, dark-haired girl slowly strutted through the alleyway. She made it a point to stay hidden in the shadows. The sun had set long ago and all of the night creatures where now on the prowl. This said creature, however, was not a beast, but a beauty.

Her black Stilettos made clicking noises every time they came in contact with the ground. The long, tan overcoat fluttered behind her, the cold, bracing wind violating her warm flesh. That was the only sound that could be heard for miles around.

_Click._

_Click._

_Click._

What the girl didn't realize though, is that somewhere from the dark shadows behind her, she was being watched. Well, she knew she was being watched, just not by who she expected.

"Any takers?" Ryan's voice sounded through the headphone clipped inside her ear. It had been a request by Horatio to have it put in. Ryan hadn't refused.

"No, not yet, Jon Jon," Dylan whispered under her breath.

_Jon Jon, _Ryan thought, _that's a new one. _

Ryan let a sigh escape his mouth, resting his head on the dashboard of the van that was parked across the street. He heard Eric yawn from beside him in the passenger seat. He couldn't blame the Cuban for being tired. They'd been at this for four hours.

Dylan did another strut before turning into the street lamp's small light. She had been walking through the alleyway for hours! Yes, she had gotten _many _offers from sleazy dudes who she would have never given the time of day before tonight. None of them were the right one though; Mark Gantry.

He should've been here by now. They all knew it. Maybe it just wasn't the right time, or maybe he'd taken another girl right under their noses.

The rest of the team was out, hitting all of the "hot spots" to watch out for Mark. They were going to get him. Ryan had promised the families of the victims he would.

Dylan came to the end of the alleyway and turned again. This time though, she ran into something, or rather, someone.

Mark Gantry stood before her. His short dirty blonde hair was disheveled and he looked bedraggled. He might have been cute or handsome, but in this light, and with the expression in his eyes, he looked utterly hideous.

Dylan quickly shook out her fear, and then looked up at him through her eyelashes, trying to appear sultry and sexy.

"Can I _help _you?" she asked, letting emphasis into her voice, as if to convey that 'help' meant something else.

Mark's upper lip curled into a sneer, shaking Dylan's easy confidence. He automatically reached out and grabbed her shoulders. He put his lips to her ear, letting his disgusting, vile breath wash over her. "What's your name, girl?"

Dylan was scared. That much Ryan could tell over the loudspeaker. His hand went for his blaster, and his other went for the door handle. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Eric doing the same thing.

Dylan gulped, feeling a sense of foreboding settle in the pit of her stomach. "Names are overrated. Why don't we just get out of here?" She closed her eyes, waiting for the reaction. It came instantly.

Mark pressed his body closer to her. Man, he reeked! He let his nose glide along her neckline, reveling in the scent of her. Dylan's fist closed at her sides, and she let her eyes shut. _Please, J.R., come for me now. _She thought.

"Mark, let her go!" Ryan's voice cut through the night like a knife. Mark spun around, releasing his grip on Dylan. She stumbled backwards, looking for something to grab at and failing.

Mark looked at his old friend, fear and betrayal running through his veins. Ryan stood there, his blaster pointed straight at him, that Cuban friend of his mimicking his stance, only with a smaller weapon.

"Ryan? What are you doing here?" Mark asked, making his voice sound hurt, trying to get a response out of Ryan.

It did.

Ryan flinched back. He couldn't do this. He couldn't kill the man that had pulled him from his own hell. All this doubt filled into his mind. He wasn't strong enough. He was weak. His gun, which had been raised to its full potential, lowered just a little bit.

"Ryan, no!" Dylan's scream rang through his ears. Ryan's last thought before everything succumbed to chaos was, _Oh shit!_

Mark shot out from his position. He quickly knocked Eric's gun aside, sending it flying. Ryan's weapon was the next to go. The Ogre moved with such speed, such precision, that he had this done before they could blink.

A fist came out and connected with Eric, who immediately propelled to the floor. Ryan forgot how strong Ogres could be when hungry. Mark's gaze immediately went to Ryan. They met each other's gazes, and that's what broke Ryan's apprehensiveness.

The eyes that stared back at him were a muddy brown, cold and lifeless. They looked at him with such disdain, such hate, that Ryan couldn't help but feel that ache in his chest, the one that appeared only since returning to Miami.

Mark collided into Ryan, both then colliding into the floor. Mark was slashing with his nails, which had now grown out to claws. Then, Mark was fiddling with Ryan's sleeve. Ryan was just about to start wondering what the hell was happening when he felt it.

The Ogre's long fangs bit into Ryan's shoulder, shooting immense pain throughout the human's body. Mark's jaw was clamped shut, teeth digging into the taut, muscled flesh. Ryan's eyes, which had been shut, blew open wide. His mouth opened and let out a very loud, yet manly, scream. It sounded from miles around. His shoulder was burning, and he could feel it starting to spread through his body.

All of the sudden, he heard Dylan's shriek match his own. He looked for her, only to find her struggling against Mark's tight grasp. Ryan tried making his way to her, only to fail miserably. His eyes caught a glint of silver that was thrown in front of him.

Ryan watched with weary eyes as Mark took Dylan, leaving Ryan alone with an unconscious Eric. His long fingers were slippery with blood as he gripped the object that had been thrown his way.

The chain slipped through his fingers, hanging on by only a thread. Ryan's mouth opened to scream, yet no sound came out.

Hanging by the chain that was clasped loosely in his fingertips was a necklace. One side had a carving of Jack the Ripper, while the other side was engraved with two words.

номер чотири

Ryan couldn't help but let his tears fall freely.

Dylan was number four.

**Author's Note: **Wow, I'm so evil. Don't worry, I didn't kill Dylan off… Maybe. But, what do you think? And thanks for the reviews. Also, I may start another story; a Ryan Wolfe story of course!


	11. Searching for His Own

**Author's Note: **Okay, so this one's really early. I had time to write this, though, so here it is. Thank you for the reviews! Also, I have a review to reply to, so I'm going to do that here.

**To StarlitWave10**: Okay, for your first review, the phrase "Holy shit, talking mushrooms" is something I got from a movie. It's just something you say when you're really surprised. For the second review, the language I am using for the necklaces is Ukrainian, not Russian. Sorry if there was any confusion. (:

Also, the _italics _in this story are Ryan's dream sequence.

**Disclaimer: **You people already know what I'm going to say, so do I need to say it? I don't own anything!

**Searching For His Own**

Ryan could hear the sirens in the back of his subconscious, but it didn't really register in his mind. The only thing he could concentrate on was finding Dylan, and hoping that she was alive.

He groveled on the dirty cement, trying to crawl his way in the direction he'd seen the Ogre and his partner go. His hands dug into the crevices in the street, forcing his body to slowly move through the alleyway. Ryan kept doing this, trying desperately while he was bleeding and burning, until the pain became too unbearable. His shoulder was on fire, and sweat covered his brow. He wouldn't find her like this. Then, he heard a groan.

Ryan turned his head to see Eric struggling to stand. In all this confusion, he'd forgotten that the Cuban was there.

Eric stood slowly, swaying a little bit. He limped his way over to Ryan, dropping to his knees in front of him. Eric put his hand on Ryan's back, patting it in a comforting motion. They were both thinking the same thing; they wanted the paramedics to get here already. The sooner they came, the sooner they could start a search for Dylan.

The ambulances and police cars pulled into the alley soon. Bright lights flashed all around and sirens blared, the sound hurting the boys' already sensitive eardrums. Both the pale and tanned men were loaded into the back of the ambulances and were ready to be taken to the hospital.

Ryan lay strapped in a gurney, fading in and out of consciousness. He had no idea how he was going to explain what happened in the alley. The CSIs were _not _supposed to find out about links or the mythical world. That's what SU2 was for; keeping the people of planet Earth unsuspecting of links.

Eric was taken to the emergency room, only needing a few stitches, some antibiotics, and a lot of rest. He had to be woken up every couple of hours, for he had a concussion. Ryan, however, was taken straight to the operating room. He had fangs, claws, and glass lodged in his body.

While Ryan was being operated on, his unconscious mind was running rampant.

_Ryan was running. He was running so fast that the trees around him were nothing but a blur of green and brown. Sweat was pouring down from his hair, leaving thin, wet trails on his pale face. His lungs were burning, his muscles ached, and his veins pumped battery acid._

_He didn't know what he was running from, or if he was running to something, but he was running. He knew that he shouldn't stop. Then, he came to a clearing, and tripped on a fallen branch, falling to the floor. Shaking the leaves out of his hair and brushing the grass from his jeans, he looked up._

_The clearing was huge, spread out for miles around. It was a perfect circle. The tall grass that surrounded them was brown and dead. It swayed slightly, for wind was howling through the trees. The sky was dark, and occasional streak of lightening flashed, the strikes that same shape as Ryan's scar._

_Dylan was standing in the middle of the clearing, tears running down her face. She looked at him with sadness, so much sadness that Ryan could feel his heart breaking all over again. Dylan reached out to him, as if to touch his face, even though they were about five yards apart. She then let her hand drop to her side and shook her head. Finally, she spoke._

"_How could you, Jon?" she said, looking betrayed. "How could you just let me be taken by that monster?" She was still crying, her azure eyes bright and shining._

_Ryan was frozen. Ice panged through his heart. The feeling was so familiar, the feeling he'd had ever since coming to Miami. Then, realization hit him. That feeling was… pain, hurt… That feeling was sadness, something he hadn't felt in a long time._

_Ryan shook his head, his long, brunette hair flying against the breeze that attacked them now. He took a few steps towards Dylan, reaching out to her, but she just stepped back._

"_No!" she screamed at him. She kept shuffling backwards, trying to put more and more distance between them. But Ryan was still advancing towards her, desperately attempting to reach her. "Jon, you left me! You promised you'd always take care of me, and you left!" Dylan was close to breaking out in a flat out sprint, but Ryan stayed close behind._

"_I hate you! Do you hear me, Wolfe? I hate you!" Dylan's voice had morphed into a lower-pitched tone, with a slight Spanish accent. Her pale, petite features changed into a strong jaw, tanned skin, and her hair grew short, into a cropped buzz._

_Eric stood in front of Ryan, yelling about his hate for the man. His screams got louder and louder, more and more vulgar._

_Soon, the screams morphed again, and so did Eric. The faces, the voices kept changing. Eric morphed into Natalia, Natalia changed into Horatio, Horatio changed into Calleigh, Calleigh morphed into his brother, and they kept changing and changing. More and more faces appeared, but they were only connected by one thing. They were all people Ryan had, in his eyes, let down._

_They kept yelling at him, screaming about how much they hated him, how much he'd betrayed them. Ryan just kept trying to advance towards them, shouting back about how sorry he was, how he'd never meant to hurt anyone._

_Eventually, the figure settled onto one face: Mark Gantry._

_Mark looked down at Ryan, not saying anything. He just kept his cold eyes on the brunette._

_Ryan fell to his knees, tears dripping down his face. He felt hopeless, miserable. He'd let them all down._

_Ryan was shocked when he felt Mark put his hand on his shoulder. Ryan's hazel eyes lifted to the muddy brown ones. He stared into them, looking for remorse, or even better, forgiveness. _

_Neither was found. Cruelty was all Ryan could see._

_Mark knelt down to Ryan's broken stance. He kept his eyes level with his and very gently, he put his hands on both sides of Ryan's face._

"_All that has happened is your fault," Mark said, before snapping Ryan's neck in one swift motion._

Ryan sat up quickly, jumping out of his dream. A sheen of cold sweat covered his entire body. His breathing was ragged and he couldn't pull enough air into his lungs. He looked around the room, trying to figure out where he was.

It didn't take him long to recognize his surroundings. He was in a hospital room, and there was a sleeping Eric next to him. As soon as Ryan's adrenaline wore off from the dream, he became exhausted. His breathing slowed and his head hit the scratchy pillow underneath his head. Suddenly, he became aware of a frantic beeping that was sounding through the room.

Dr. Alexx Woods burst through the door. As soon as she saw Ryan awake, she walked to him. Gently putting her fingers to his forehead to see if he was running hot, she said, "Hey, baby. How are you feeling?"

Ryan stayed lying down. The pain of his injuries was catching up to him. Slightly delirious, he replied with, "Where's Dill?" His eyes were scrunched closed and he was in unbearable pain.

Alexx was slightly confused. Then, she realized that "Dill" must have been the Dylan Silas girl that had been taken. "Baby, you don't need to worry about that right now. You just get some rest and let Horatio find her."

Ryan just shook his head. "No," he started with. "No, I need to find her. I _have _to look for her." He was frantic, and this was evident in the way the EKG monitor started beeping out of control. His breathing came in short, shallow pants. He needed to get _out of there._

Alexx began to get worried. Ryan was started to panic, and in his condition, that was one of the worst things that could be happening. She started stroking his hair, pushing the wet strands from his face. "Ryan, Ryan, honey, it's going to be okay. We'll find her, I promise. Just calm down, baby. Please, calm down."

Ryan's tried sitting up, putting too much pressure on his injured shoulder. He cried out in pain, quickly falling back to the bed. His panic attack was enough to wake up Eric, who was shocked to see Ryan freaking out the way he was.

Eric stood up from his bed and made his way over to Ryan. He put his hand on Ryan's uninjured shoulder and said, "Look, Ry, you have to calm down, man. If you want to find Dylan, we need you stable. Please, get healed. We'll join the search for her as soon as we're better. Let Horatio try and find her."

Ryan looked into Eric's eyes with an almost crazed look in them. It was so depressing.

"No!" Ryan practically shouted the word. "I have to go! Let me look for her. Just let me-"

During this rant, Ryan tried to sit up again, this time he was jerky in his motions. He put almost his entire weight on his hurt shoulder and aggravated his wound. Ryan screamed; the pain shooting through his arm was intense and excruciating. He fell back on the bed, clutching at his shoulder. His face was contorted, and the agony on his face was clearly visible.

Alexx pushed him back down to the bed, calling for a nurse. They had to get Ryan stabilized and put under before he permanently damaged himself.

Ryan started thrashing around, desperately trying to pull himself up, and all the while shouting that he had to find Dylan. Nurses and doctors came rushing into the room, one of them carrying a needle with anesthesia. One pushed Eric back to his bed, who was watching with sad eyes. Dylan really meant a lot to Ryan.

The doctors restrained Ryan to the bed, and the nurse pushed the needle into his IV. Soon enough, Ryan ceased his panicking. He began to quiet down, and he tired out.

Ryan stopped trying to fight against his heavy eyelids after some time. The tears finally burst from his eyes. The last words he spoke before he fell asleep where, "I'm sorry, Dylan."

Then, he passed out from the anesthesia and the pain.

**Author's Note: **It's kind of a depressing chapter, but it'll get better. And, per request from a reviewer, I'm not going to kill off Dylan. She's too vital to the story and keeps Ryan sane and cool.

P.S. I'm going to put Dylan's full character biography on my profile. When I say full, I mean FULL! I'm going to give a descriptive account of this girl. Why? I will be using her for a lot of other stories, too, and not just CSI: Miami stories.


	12. Waking Up In More Ways Than One

**Author's Note: **Well, I do not really have anything to say, except after the story. Well, enjoy my extreme torture of the CSI: Miami characters.

Also, check out my new story _**Secrets**_. It's a Big Time Rush story, so if you're into that kind of thing, go check it out!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything related to the show!

**Waking Up In More Ways Than One**

Ryan's eyes fluttered open, straining against the bright sunlight that was coming in from the hospital windows. He took in his surroundings; the white walls, the machines and IVs that were connected to him, Eric sitting in the bed next to him reading a book, Calleigh in the visitor's chair sleeping. But, there was something wrong with this picture. Where was Dylan?

It hit him then. He remembered last night. He remembered the undercover mission, the kidnapping, the dream… The dream!

Just thinking about it brought tears to Ryan's eyes. He hastily blinked them away. He didn't want to seem weak.

Ryan then turned to Eric, who was still completely engrossed in what he was reading, not even noticing that Ryan was awake.

"Eric," Ryan said, breaking the silence. His voice was weak, raspy. It barely came out above a whisper.

Eric's head snapped to look at the brunette. He gave Ryan a slight smile. "Hey, Ry, how're you feeling?"

Ryan looked at him with eyes that told him exactly what he was feeling. His hazel eyes were dead and cold. They were lifeless. God, Dylan disappearing affected Ryan so much.

"How do you _think _I'm feeling?" Ryan ground out the question through his teeth. His jaw was clenched and his hands were fisted in the sheets.

Eric smiled at him, trying to keep the mood light. "Don't get snippy with me. It was just a question." Eric's attempt at teasing was met with cold indifference.

"What have they found out? Have they found her yet?" Ryan's question was expected. Even though he asked it, the SU2 agent already knew that answer.

Eric sighed and looked back at his still open book, not really reading anymore. "No, Ryan, they haven't found anything yet. We'll catch Mark, though, and get Dylan back. Give them some time."

Ryan's eyes blew open wide. The EKG started going berserk as he tried to sit up, and he did so after a few moments. "Time?" Ryan asked incredulously, "You want me to give them time? The other girls were killed within the first twenty-four hours. We don't have any time!"

Ryan's shout awoke Calleigh. She sat up in her chair, blinking the sleep from her eyes. Taking in the scene before her, she quietly slid out of the room to search for Alexx.

Eric got up and tried to push Ryan back down onto the bed, only to fail miserably. "Ryan, please, we don't want a repeat of last night. Calm down, Ryan."

Ryan just scrunched up his eyes and shook his head wildly. "I want to go out and help. Get me out of this hospital bed."

Ryan fumbled with all the wires connected to him, pulling the IVs out of his skin. Eric then hit the button to call for the nurse. Ryan got both of his legs off the bed and tried to stand, only to stumble into the visitor's chair.

Alexx came rushing into the room, Calleigh following close behind. Alexx put her hands on Ryan's shoulders and pushed him back onto the bed. Ryan sat there, breathing heavily.

"Ryan, you have to stop pushing yourself so hard. We need you to heal. You don't need to be out there right now. I know you want to help, but, baby, stop this," Alexx pleaded with Ryan. He didn't even look into her eyes during her speech.

Ryan didn't even try and listen. He thought she was wrong. He needed to get out there and find Dylan. In his eyes, he couldn't let her down again. It was his drive to get out there. But, for now, he'd rest like they told him to.

Eric returned to his bed, Alexx left, and Calleigh crawled back into the visitor's chair. It was only when all of them thought that Ryan was asleep that the brunette realized something.

Eric had called him Ryan, not Wolfe.

MIAMICRIMELAB MIAMICRIMELAB

Ryan made himself wake up only a few hours later. He checked the room. Eric was sound asleep; Calleigh and Alexx were nowhere to be found.

Perfect.

Ryan slowly got up out of the bed, biting his lip to suppress the groan of pain that tried to slip out of his mouth. He started walking, stumbling slightly. The clothes that were resting on the end of his bed were obviously for him. Ryan got dressed, stretching his sore muscles. He tried making as little noise as possible, so he didn't wake Eric.

He slowly limped towards the door. The pain that was shooting through his body was almost unbearable. Ryan didn't stop moving, though. He had to make it out of there, for Dylan's sake. He would make it for her.

Ryan walked out of the door, looking around to see if anyone was there. The halls were deserted. The bright fluorescent lights were shining only slightly. Occasionally they would flicker. It must have been really late at night.

Ryan limped through the halls. He was struggling along and his breathing was becoming ragged. It wouldn't be too long before he completely passed out from the pain.

The doors of the hospital opened before him. Ryan's hazel eyes looked around for a car. He found no familiar vehicle. This meant that he was going to have to steal one. He wasn't proud of this.

Ryan's hand closed around the handle of a bright, cherry-red Corvette. No matter how hard he pulled on it, the door wouldn't budge. Leaving him no choice, he took the switch blade from his left black Converse and stuck it in the window. He jiggled it around until he heard a small, almost inaudible click. Ryan was in.

His bandaged hand hung limply at his side while he drove with his left. The speedometer read well over 100 miles per hour, but the speed limit was only a suggestion to Ryan at the moment. There were no cars on the Miami highways, leaving no worry of anyone getting hurt. Ryan just drove for the only place he knew that Mark could have Dylan.

Ryan was going to find her, no matter the cost.

MIAMICRIMELAB MIAMICRIMELAB

Eric's eyes fluttered open at the commotion that was ringing in his ears. God, he was lying in a hospital bed. You would think that people had respect.

The sight before Eric was shocking. The entire team was here; Horatio, Calleigh, Walter, Natalia, and Frank. Eric looked over to Ryan's bed, about to ask him about what was going on when he found it empty.

The covers was thrown everywhere and the clothes that had been laid out for the brunette where long gone. Blood drops littered the floor, making a trail to the door. Ryan had snuck out.

"Where the hell is Ryan?" Eric asked, but he already knew the answer.

Horatio looked up to Eric. His eyes were cold and unresponsive. Eric knew what he was feeling. He'd lost not only one, but two agents that were supposed to be in his care. It was bad.

"Mr. Wolfe," Horatio started, using the tone of voice he used with all the criminals, "has gone missing. We figured this out when a car was reported stolen from the parking lot."

Ryan stealing a car? That was a shocker. Ryan never used to do things like that. Well, he did, but… It was different then.

Eric knew what Ryan was trying to accomplish, though. He shook his head at the thought.

Ryan was going crazy. He was turning into a mad man trying to find his partner. Eric knew what it was like to lose a partner. He'd lost Speed. But to know that they're out there, alive and with a chance of survival? That would probably drive Eric insane, too. It would overcome every other thought on his mind.

Eric couldn't really blame Ryan, but this wasn't going to excuse his actions in court. He hoped that they'd go easy on him, though.

A few police officers were interviewing people, trying to figure out if anyone had seen Ryan last night, but no one had. The hospital had been short of staff and there was a huge car accident in Key West. The emergency room had been flooded, and that was nowhere near where Ryan had been.

Eric frowned slightly at the thought of his friend, bleeding and broken, in a stolen car that was probably going so fast, the scenery was blurring past him.

**Author's Note: **Well, I know it was so late compared to my last one, but I went out of town to spend time with family at Thanksgiving. Sorry, but I didn't have Internet where they lived, so that wasn't an option. Also, I don't think I'll be able to update until next week. I have to go out of town again this weekend. Anyway, read and review.


	13. Confronting the Nightmare

**Author's Note: **Okay, don't kill me! I've just been working on my other story and the holidays have come around so things have been hectic. It's not like I haven't tried to write, but every time I do, something comes up. Now, while I have my free time, I'm going to write you all a very awesome chapter!

Also, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of my reviewers! I love you all!

**Disclaimer: **I own just about all of the stuff I owned last time; nothing!

**Confronting the Nightmare**

Ryan could barely even concentrate on the fact that he'd made it to the warehouse in almost five minutes. The burning in his shoulder was becoming too much and if he was going to kill Mark, he had to do it now. It was that, or he'd pass out from the pain that was radiating from every place in his body.

His legs carried him through the open steel door that leads to the inside of the building. Ryan limped into the building with his hand placed inside the secret compartment that held his SU2 blaster. A surprise attack might work on Mark, had he not already been expecting Ryan.

"Well, look here." Mark's low, guttural voice bounced off of the metal walls. "If it isn't my _friend_, Ryan. I thought you would never show. Dylan was getting a little worried."

With that, a high-pitched, agonizing scream rang through the warehouse. Ryan's ears wanted to crawl inside his head to get rid of the tormenting sound. Listening to it was torture. Ryan threw his hands to the sides of his head and pressed them to his ears, trying to block out the cry. His fingers scrunched themselves into his hair and started tugging. Ryan wanted it to stop. That's all he wanted.

Ryan started shaking his head, convincing himself that this was on a dream. He began thinking the strangest of thoughts. _This isn't real. I'm back at home, Chicago. I'm just dreaming. Dylan is back at her apartment, trying to sleep with her nightmares. I'm at my own house, the little sleep I get filled with horrible nightmares like this one. It's not real. Nothing's real. Nothing's real…_

The screaming stopped and Ryan felt a flood of relief run through him. His hands dropped and he started running. He didn't know what he was running to, but he had one purpose in mind: Kill Mark Gantry.

The wounds on his body that hadn't had a chance to heal were taking a toll on him now. Ryan's pace started to slow, but fueled with the hate that was running through his veins, he pushed farther on. Soon, he came face to face with a door, a rusty door. What ticked him off was the bright blood that was smeared across the handle. The only problem with the blood was that it was the wrong color. It wasn't red; it wasn't even blue, like it would be before it was exposed to oxygen.

The blood was a brilliant and shining purple. That could only mean one thing.

Ogre blood.

Ryan smiled at the thought of what that intended. It implied that Dylan had fought back and it made Ryan proud to know that those weeks of intense training hadn't been a total bust. Ryan was beginning to think that Dylan would never be able to pull her own weight.

Ryan's rough hands were placed on the open door, careful to only just put a slight pressure on it. The door moved more open very slowly and quietly. Ryan hid behind the wall and peered inside. The sight he was witnessing was making him sick.

Mark was not in full Ogre form, but he was almost transformed, and it was very disturbing. Patches of his skin were scaly and a sickly green color. Tufts of his hair had either been pulled out or were falling out by the look of his scalp. The once brown eyes had faded into a sick, burning yellow-gold that wasn't the least bit pretty. His clothes were torn and stained the purple blood that was splattered on the floor. He was pacing back and forth, his hands working their way into his hair and pulling. This sight made Ryan queasy, but it wasn't what was going to stay in his brain for as long as he lived.

Dylan was strapped to a chair, her revealing outfit almost ripped so much that you could practically see _everything. _Her breathing was heavy and labored while her fists kept clenching and unclenching from their position on the arm rest. Blood trickled from her ruby lips and from the numerous cuts on her face and dripped onto the floor, mixing with the purple fluids to create an almost pretty violet. The electric azure eyes that she called her own were covered with her pale eyelids, shut with what was obviously excruciating pain.

Ryan felt like he was going to retch.

He burst through the door with his blaster on full display and pointed at Mark. The Ogre was ready though. His arms went around Dylan and he kneeled behind her, using her body as a shield. In his hand was a big knife that looked sharp enough to cut through the metal that surrounded them. The knife was poised above Dylan's throat and pointed directly above an artery that, if cut, would mean instant death.

Dylan shrieked but didn't struggle. Her eyes flew open and looked around frantically. When they landed on Ryan, she visibly calmed but then saw the panic in his eyes. Her breathing sped up and her heart beat quickened. _This _is_ it. _She thought, _not even Ryan can save me now._

"You pull the trigger, she dies. If you come closer, she dies. You can't win in this situation Ryan. Surrender to me, and, maybe, I'll let her go." Mark's voice was smooth and coming out easily, not like the gruff tone form before. His tongue flicked out and licked along Dylan's neck, tasting her. This action caused the girl to yelp and start thrashing around despite the restraints holding her to the chair.

"Stop it!" Ryan shouted, hoping that volume would get Mark's attention. "Stop it right now and move!"

Ryan's second request was kind of a shocker to Mark. He was expecting a _Let her go! _Or a _Get away from her!_ He was not expecting a _Move!_

Mark tilted his head and looked at Ryan with curious eyes. Mark could remember the bright brown and green hazel eyes that had once stared at him with compassion and sympathy. That was all gone now, replaced with a cold anger and revenge that almost made a pang of emotion run through Mark's heart. It was quickly dissipated though, when he heard a bang from under him.

Ryan heard it, too, and looked behind him to see dozens of police officers charging into the warehouse. This gave him relief, until he heard ropes being snapped. As quickly as he could, Ryan shot his eyes back to the now empty chair. His ears picked up another loud bang, the sound of a door being slammed shut, to his left. He took off running, forcing the door open with strength that he didn't even now that he'd had.

The door flew off its hinges and landed ten feet away from where it'd been. Ryan was too enraged to care, for he could hear Mark's footsteps, his maniacal laughter, and Dylan's pleading shrieks.

He was running, running like his life had depended on it. Ryan followed the footsteps that were ringing through his ears. It didn't matter that his wounds were reopened and bleeding. It didn't matter that his shoulder was burning, or that the burning was spreading, scattering to his chest and his other arm, to his legs and stomach. It didn't matter that the scar on his cheekbone was blazing, something that it hadn't done in a very long time. It certainly didn't matter that he could hear the gunshots behind him, hear the recognizable voices of his entire team, or hear the own patter of his own footsteps that had picked up drastically.

There was only one thought running through his mind: _Kill Mark. Kill Mark. Kill Mark._

Revenge coursed through Ryan's veins and it was telling him to kill, no matter what, just kill. In the back of his mind, he heard the footsteps of Mark stop, but it didn't register completely.

Ryan hit the door separating him and Mark and Dylan. He stood in shock, fear replacing his adrenaline and strength. Dylan was encased in Mark's grip, and she was staring at Ryan with an accepting look. Dylan nodded at him and with tears in her eyes, mouthed to him the words that he needed to hear, words he could use to keep himself sane later on.

_Not your fault. Love you, bro. _

Jonathan Ryan Wolfe could finally understand how Nick felt when his partner was ripped to pieces.

Mark had his claws in Dylan's torso and ripped.

Ryan saw his partner ripped in two, cut to pieces, and her internal organs strewn across the room before all he could see was red.

Dylan's blood drenched Ryan's clothes, skin, and face in a sea of crimson that looked as if it would never wash off of his skin. His entire body stood frozen, watching the scene play out before him. Ryan fell to his knees and started shaking his head in disbelief.

Mark's words cut through the ice that coated Ryan's body. "Well, that's one casualty taken care of. We just have one more to get through, don't we?"

Ryan looked up to Mark and no longer saw a friend. That notion was killed when he killed Dylan. No, Ryan saw a dangerous murderer who only cared about where he was going to get his next meal, or his next booty call.

Ryan snapped.

He lunged for Mark, slamming into him with all of the strength that now resonated throughout his body. Ryan felt a power like none other he'd had before. It surged through him, blazing like a fire in his muscles. The shoulder bite wound had been more than a wound; it'd been something that passed from Mark to Ryan.

He'd never noticed it before. But now, with the crystal clear memory that came with the bite, he remembered something he'd read. Anyone who was bitten by and Ogre was one of two things; dead or dying. Now, Ryan should be dead, but with the werewolf scar, the DNA that had been passed from the werewolf to Ryan, from Mark to Ryan, it caused an inhuman reaction.

Ryan had some of the Ogre's inhuman qualities.

Mark had fallen back from the impact that Ryan's full weight had caused. They both fell to the floor, and Ryan, with his new power, slammed his fist into Mark as hard as he could. Mark's head smashed back into the concrete floor and purple blood splattered along the walls, mixing with Dylan's red blood.

Mark was dazed, unable to fight back. He was hungry, and now regretful that he'd never eaten that Dylan girl when he'd had the chance…

Ryan pulled the blaster out of his pocket and pointed it at Mark's head. In the distance, he could hear Horatio's _Mr. Wolfe! _He could hear Calleigh's _Ryan, don't! _He could hear Eric's _No, Wolfe, no! _But it all didn't matter.

Because the next thing that happened was inevitable, and Ryan didn't want to stop.

"Die, you fucker, die!" Ryan screamed and pulled the trigger, sending Mark's brains spewing across the concrete.

**Author's Note: **That's not the official ending! I promise! There's going to be an epilogue, and yeah… For all you Dylan fans, I'm so sorry, but I couldn't imagine the story ending another way!

So, this is it. This is the almost end to my first story. No one told me it would feel this... Emptying. But, all good things come to an end, right?

Also, Nick was a character on SU2 whose partner was cut to pieces, literally.

**P.S.** Since this story is almost over, I'm thinking of doing another one. You remember how I mentioned how Ryan had betrayed his brother? Well, I've always wanted to write something about Ryan having a twin brother and the two of them always being at odds. Does anyone seem like they'd be interested in this story? If so, review or PM me!


	14. Epilogue: Even the Good Go Bad

**Author's Note: **Okay, this story is just going to end here. It's a short epilogue and it's a huge twist, but I need to finish this story before I continue with my other one or start a new one. Also, I am writing a new story, _Protector, _which is going to be awesome! It's another Ryan fic, but it's with the team and he's treated a lot better than he was in this one. I'll give a summary at the end and you can check it out! Also, _Let the Games Begin _will be updated this weekend, I promise.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything!

**Epilogue: Even the Good Go Bad**

Ryan stood in the courtroom. The silence was eerie and laid a thick blanket over everyone in the small place. His hands were fastened in a tight embrace by state of the art police handcuffs. He stood in front of the judge, his eyes looking but not really seeing. His mind didn't notice his entire team behind him, waiting and hoping for good news, but with the evidence against him, hoping was pointless.

A juror passed the note to the bailiff, who passed it to the judge. The greying man read it, and then sent it back to the jury. He spoke with a calm and steady voice. "How does the jury find the defendant?"

The first juror stood up and squared his shoulders. The verdict rang out through the room. "We find the defendant, Jonathan Ryan Wolfe, guilty of first degree murder."

Ryan wasn't shocked, but the rest were. His team and thought for sure that the death of his partner would have allowed him some explanation for his irrational behavior. He didn't regret a thing, though.

If he could, Ryan would do the same thing over and over again. Mark died from his bullet, from his gun, and he relished that fact every day. No one could get him out of this mess, especially after his testimony where he'd clearly stated that he had enjoyed pulling the trigger.

Someone started pulling on Ryan's shoulder, tugging him toward the door that led to his incarceration. With a quick glance over his shoulder, he took in the sight of his team. Natalia was open-mouthed, and Calleigh and Eric both had looks of sympathy on their faces. Horatio stood off to the side, hiding his face by looking down.

Ryan took in their appearance and didn't feel any remorse. His feelings had not changed from seeing their faces. In fact, the reaction was the exact opposite.

Ryan looked at all of his team members and gave them a giant, fang-filled smile before his eyes flashed a brilliant, sickly yellow.

**Author's Note: **Yeah, I know it sucked but I have problems going on right now. :/ Anyways, on to the summary!

**Protector: **A mysterious yet brutal murder at an orphanage leaves everyone in shock. But when Ryan knows a bit more about the whole institution then he should, the team learns a little more about his past then they bargained for. My version of Ryan's past!


End file.
